


The Secrets That You Keep

by jumilsbish



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Gang World, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Character Death, Eventual Smut, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Angst, Gang Violence, Gunshot Wounds, Kissing, M/M, Moving In Together, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Smut, bbangkyu on the side, blowjob, cafe owner chanhee, established jacob/sangyeon, eventual jujae, i am sory i truly am, kevin mob boss, sunhak? idk yet, unrequited moonbae
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:09:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 42,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26651203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jumilsbish/pseuds/jumilsbish
Summary: Jacob just wants to leave his youth behind and start over with Sangyeon, build a happy home and have a family. Kevin takes his place to run the biggest gang active in all of South-Korea.
Relationships: Bae Joonyoung | Jacob/Lee Sangyeon, Bae Joonyoung | Jacob/Moon Hyungseo | Kevin, Ji Changmin | Q/Kim Younghoon, Lee Jaehyun | Hyunjae/Lee Juyeon
Comments: 18
Kudos: 53





	1. Love Is (Not) Easy

**Author's Note:**

> Waddup y'all this is my first ever chaptered fic and I am very nervous because this plot is my baby
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing!

Winter was nearing its end, days slowly grew longer again and snow fell less frequently. Sangyeon welcomed the changes, he had never been one to like the cold weather, even if the cold gave him an excuse to stay close to Jacob at all times. 

His boyfriend just laughed at him as he linked their arms together, cold hand slipping into his pocket. Jacob pressed a kiss to his temple while intertwining their fingers, “Cold again?” He asked, voice soft, a familiar sparkle in his eyes.

Sangyeon hummed as they came to a stop at the crossroads. “Yes,” He chuckled before adding, “and maybe I just want to be close to you for a little longer.” The younger let out a chuckle of his own at this. 

“I know,” Jacob replied before tugging him along across the street. They were on their way back to the older’s apartment, returning from a date to celebrate Sangyeon getting a long-overdue promotion at work. 

Passing a few blocks they turned right, Sangyeon opening the door to a relatively new building in the neighborhood, “Are you coming inside?” He asked as he looked at the younger. 

Jacob shook his head, a soft smile on his lips, “I promised Hyunjae to be home tonight.” He said before swiftly pecking Sangyeon’s lips. “I will text you when I’m home.” 

“Okay. I love you, baby.” The older responded, connecting their lips again like he was proving his point. “I love you too, hyung.” 

With that Sangyeon entered the elevator, pressing the button of his floor and doors closing as he waved at Jacob in a last greeting. He returned the gesture until they lost sight of each other. 

Jacob stood there for a second before turning around and leaving the building. His shared home was far from Sangyeon’s and even though it was late he enjoyed the walk. 

Headphones in he called his housemate Hyunjae, “Any possibility for you to pick me up at the usual spot? I just brought Sangyeon home, but don’t really want to walk an hour.” After the other gave him affirmation he played some music. 

Yes, he didn’t mind walking, but even he knew better than to walk around at night alone. He and Hyunjae had fallen into a rhythm where Hyunjae would come get him halfway between the two places. 

This way Jacob had some alone time and got in his daily walk while also staying safe. He liked it that way. Especially with the way everything else in his life was. 

Being the son of the biggest mob boss wasn’t exactly all fun and games. 

Quite the opposite in fact. From a young age he’d been raised to fight, to kill. Jacob wanted none of that and he’d told his father so. Not that the old man listened to him until recently. 

No, it wasn’t until Kevin came into the picture that his father had accepted him wanting to leave the mob life behind. Kevin was the son of a close friend of his dad. Contrary to Jacob, he had always enjoyed the thrill of their lifestyle, so when Kevin’s father proposed a marriage his own hadn’t hesitated to take him up on the offer. 

What Jacob thought didn’t matter. 

_Jacob already being in a relationship didn’t matter._

His father had told him as much. “I don’t care how you do it but you are marrying Kevin and he will inherit my empire. You’re too weak for that anyway. My life’s work would go to waste if not for Kevin.” 

It had hurt, sure. Jacob wasn’t planning on leaving Sangyeon but simultaneously Kevin inheriting everything gave him a way out of it all. Maybe getting married to his longtime friend was worth it. 

Kevin and Jacob had been friends until Jacob started keeping his distance from mob activities where possible. 

The younger didn’t understand why Jacob would do that. Not only that, it made him sad to see someone he cared for more than he should take his distance. Kevin wanted Jacob around, wanted to spend time together. 

When his father told him Jacob’s dad accepted the offer Kevin was beyond happy. Finally, he got to spend time with him again. He had missed the older, even if Jacob didn’t enjoy being in the mob, they had bonded over other things. 

Jacob was his only friend aside from Juyeon whom he had met a couple of years prior. Juyeon knew about his crush on Jacob and never missed a chance to tease him for that. 

His friend had been happy for him. “You got him after all.” 

But the excitement Kevin felt was killed as soon as he met his future husband a day later. “I’m in a relationship already,” He had told him. “you should know I’m only doing this because dad wants me too.” 

It hurt. 

Kevin had hoped for the older to finally return his feelings but it was all in vain, he had someone else. He decided it was better for Jacob not to know about his feelings for him so he kept quiet. 

“That’s okay. We can just do it for show, make the people believe it so they won’t rebel against me. You can live your own life with him.” Saying those words Kevin knew he had lost any chance with the older. But it didn’t matter, at least Jacob was happy. _Right?_

Jacob had given him a grateful smile before excusing himself and leaving Kevin alone. 

That was two years ago. 

Now Kevin was in charge of the mob and Jacob was living happily with Sangyeon. They lived in separate houses, Kevin building him one to live in with Hyunjae. Hyunjae was part of the mob but didn’t have an active role in it all like Juyeon and Kevin. 

Jacob liked that, in their house they could pretend they were just two dudes in their twenty’s living together in a big mansion, driving expensive cars just because they could. Hyunjae never once made him feel bad for taking a step back, saying he understood he wanted to live normally together with Sangyeon. 

That was also how their ritual of meeting up halfway after one of Jacob and Sangyeon’s dates had come to be. 

“Yah Jacob! I’m here.” 

Surprised by the loud voice calling him Jacob looked back to see Hyunjae’s jet black Maserati Quattroporte GTS, Hyunjae himself hanging out of the window, hand beckoning him over.

Jacob let out a chuckle as he opened the door, sliding into the passenger’s seat. “You know you could have also just gotten out and walked over to me.” 

“Where’s the fun in that?” Hyunjae laughed, starting the engine. “I just wanted to startle you and it clearly worked.” Shaking his head at the other Jacob leaned his head on the headrest, enjoying the revving of the engine as Hyunjae accelerated. 

Hyunjae saw it happening in the corner of his eye, “Funny how you still enjoy fast cars like this.” He noted, foot pushing the pedal down further as they left the city, now entering the suburbs as he sped towards their home. 

“It’s also the sole thing that’s part of this lifestyle that doesn’t have killing people as a consequence.” Jacob deadpanned, “You know that’s why I wanted to get out.” He added quietly as he looked the other. 

“I know.” 

A comfortable silence fell between them, the need to talk while together long gone. It wasn’t until Hyunjae drove onto the highway that he spoke again. 

“How is Sangyeon-hyung?” He asked absentmindedly. Jacob smiled at the question, “He’s good. Happy with the promotion, he’s always wanted that position.” He explained, voice even softer when talking about his boyfriend.

Hyunjae nodded in understanding, he knew Sangyeon had talked about wanting this for ages. “You’re whipped.” 

“I’m what, now?” 

“Whipped. For Sangyeon-hyung. It’s disgusting,” Hyunjae chuckled as he made fake gagging noises. “you should see yourself talking about him. You get all sappy, big smile on your face like a goddamn teenager.” 

Jacob narrowed his eyes at Hyunjae, “You are just jealous because you don’t have anyone to love you as he loves me.” He countered, knowing how to get to his best friend. 

Snorting Hyunjae looked at him before pulling over, leaving the highway. “I’m happily single you know. I don’t need a man with me.” 

“You may be now but last night you kept whining about wanting someone to hug before going to sleep,” Jacob said with raised eyebrows. “That sounds pretty desperate if you ask me.”

Hyunjae feigned offense as he sped down the road that led to their house, “Whatever you say.” He muttered, keeping up the facade. Jacob knew it was just that, a facade. The other was happy but also in need of a relationship, he had told Jacob as much.

Knowing better than to continue teasing him Jacob let his gaze wander to outside the car, their house coming into view on his right. “Should we go shopping for new furniture?” 

“Sorry what?” Hyunjae asked, thrown off guard by the sudden question. “New furniture?” 

“Yeah. I kind of want to ask Sangyeon-hyung to move in with us.” 

Hyunjae smiled at the confession, hand coming up to pat Jacob on the shoulder. “That’s a big step buddy.” 

“I know,” Jacob answered, continuing to gaze outside. “But I feel like we’re ready for the next step. It’s been three years since we got together. I’m kind of running out of excuses as to why we can’t start living together.” 

“You haven’t tried the _my dad was a mob boss and made me get married to a friend so I could partially get out of mob life_ one yet,” Hyunjae said, something cold in his voice, knowing Jacob had yet to tell Sangyeon about that part of his life. 

Jacob scoffed, “You know I will never tell him that. I don’t want to pull him into something I’m trying to escape.” Voice determined and leaving no room to argue. 

The other nodded slowly, “I understand but you do know that if shit happens to you, or anyone around you for that matter, he’s going to know anyway.” He countered.

“Then I’ll make sure nothing happens.” 

“Guess we’re going shopping for new furniture tomorrow,” Hyunjae said, voice returning to cheerful as he pulled into their driveway. 

Smiling gratefully at his friend Jacob got out, opening the door to let them both in, “Goodnight.” He said before disappearing up the stairs. While doing so he shot Sangyeon a quick message that said _I’m home, goodnight love <3\. _

Hyunjae wandered into the kitchen, grabbing a beer and sitting down at their kitchen table. He understood Jacob wanted Sangyeon to move in but something about that didn’t sit right with him. His gut feeling told him this was a bad idea.

Not because he disliked Sangyeon, in fact, he was good friends with the older, but for some reason having him move in seemed to make it inevitable that he’d find out about their other life eventually. 

Hyunjae doubted their relationship was ready for that to happen. 

Kevin sat at his desk, staring at the files in front of him. They were preparing an attack on a warehouse across town but he couldn’t keep his focus. He hadn’t been able to properly focus for a couple of days but it was worse now.

This morning he had received a text from Hyunjae, the older had informed him that Jacob was planning on having Sangyeon move in with them. 

Though this was much expected to happen at some point in time, Kevin didn’t like the thought. He knew Jacob and Sangyeon were very serious but this kind of sealed the deal, more than their fake marriage could. Who was he kidding, a fake marriage is a fake marriage.

Part of Kevin still hoped, after two years, that Jacob would fall out of love with Sangyeon and come back to him. It was false hope, he was aware of that, but still the news of the moving in crushed every last bit of his hope. 

Fidgeting with his ring, the ring that Jacob refused to wear unless he had to appear in front of their people, Kevin decided it was time for a break. It was not like he was going to get anything done by himself.

He’d ask Juyeon to look at the files instead. 

Speak of the devil, at the exact moment Kevin picked up his phone to call the other Juyeon came barging into his office. “Sunwoo just found the perfect time to attack.” 

“And that is?” Kevin asked with a raised eyebrow, awaiting further explanation. 

Juyeon handed him a new file like he didn’t have enough of those already. “Tomorrow night. They’ll be out on a mission of their own so only guards will be present. We need to act now or we might not be able to do it until next month.” 

Kevin nodded slowly, eyes scanning the pages in his hand, “Good. Tell Haknyeon and Sunwoo to gather everyone for a briefing tonight. Meet me in the garage after, we’re having a break.” He answered his second in command. 

A nod was all Juyeon gave him before rushing out again. 

As he walked down to the garage of their hideout Kevin smiled to himself, at least this part of life went according to plan. He enjoyed the thrill that came with being a mob boss, even more so because people always believed he wasn’t fit for that. 

Proving people wrong had never been this much fun.

In his year of leading the mob, multiple members had stepped up, trying to take it all away from him. But they never once succeeded because Kevin was born to do this. Kevin was ruthless, he took after his father. Said man had never made it past second in command but when Jacob showed he didn’t want this life, Kevin was the logical successor. 

With his leadership and charisma, most of their people had accepted him, those who hadn’t seen the light of day again. 

While he stood there waiting, Juyeon came up behind him. “What car do we take?” He asked, obviously hoping he would get to drive the newest addition to their collection. Last week Kevin had bought a new Lamborghini, now they owned both an Aventador S Roadstar and a Urus.

“Tesla. Got to stay lowkey in town.” Kevin answered, watching the excitement fall for a second before a smile replaced it, Juyeon already making his way over to said car. 

“You’re boring,” He said as he got in the driver’s seat. “We only use nice cars on missions.” 

Kevin snorted at that, getting in himself, “You say that like a Tesla isn’t expensive. This car already has people looking.” He said with a smile. 

“Whatever.” 

Turning up the volume of the sound system he waited for Kevin to put on his seatbelt before driving off, heading for the highway. Kevin spoke up, “Usual spot?” He asked, referring to the cafe in town they frequented. Juyeon nodded, head moving to the music. “Still haven’t found a better place.” 

The rest of the ride was rather silent as they softly sang along to the songs playing on the radio. 

Juyeon parked right in front of the cafe. “Don’t want to walk.” This earned him a slap on the arm from Kevin before they got out and walked inside. Ordering was quick, the barista already recognized them and knew their order by heart. How could he not when they came here every week for over a year now? 

“Kevin and Juyeon, the order is up!” 

As the latter walked over to get their drinks he saw it was the owner who’d called for them, “Hello Chanhee, how are you?” He asked with a smile. Chanhee returned the smile, “Good! I’m guessing you and Kevin have been good too.” He added, receiving a nod. “Will talk to you later!” Juyeon said before walking back to Kevin. 

Thanks to their frequent visits the two had befriended the owner. He was the same age as them and always happy to converse with them when they stopped by. 

Kevin led him to the back of the cafe, the two sitting down at a table away from the others. “Why did you want to come here? Normally you’re obsessed with going over the plan again and again.” 

Rolling his eyes at Juyeon Kevin forced a smile, “Jacob-hyung is going to ask Sangyeon to move in with him and Hyunjae.” He said, disappointment evident in his voice. 

A silence fell as Juyeon looked at him, searching for something. “So?” 

“What do you mean, so?” 

“So? You act like you couldn’t have seen this coming. I know it hurts but you knew better.” Juyeon said, no sign of compassion on his face. 

Kevin stared at the other in shock, “Aren’t you supposed to comfort me as a friend.” It was more of a statement than a question. 

Shrugging Juyeon sipped on his drink, “Maybe. Though I feel like that’s not what you need. You need someone to tell you what’s up so you can get your focus back.” He deadpanned. 

“Ouch.” 

Kevin sighed before leaning back into his chair, “I guess you’re right.” He muttered under his breath. 

This earned him a chuckle, “I know, now the mission, don’t worry about that. Sunwoo and Haknyeon have everything worked out. We just need to go there tomorrow.” Juyeon said, voice dropping. 

A nod was all the response he got, silence falling over them once again. Most of their visits to the cafe are spent like this, just quietly drinking and snacking to take a quick break from their reality. 

Sometimes Kevin wished they would talk more but for some reason both of them get quiet when they’re outside. It’s like their lifestyle makes them put up walls as soon as they are somewhere that’s not one of their hideouts. 

As for Juyeon, he enjoyed the quiet. Yes, he loved being around Kevin and talking to him but this gave him time and space to organize his thoughts. 

He didn’t have a lot of time for that as Kevin’s second in command. Juyeon had happily accepted the position regardless of the responsibilities that came with it. Together with Kevin he formed a good team. 

Being second in command was tiring sometimes, knowing that decision-making was down to him if Kevin was too busy. The pressure of having people’s lives in his hands had been difficult at first, but just like he’d been trained to take them he also knew how to spare and protect them. 

It wasn’t the easiest lifestyle, nonetheless, it was one he enjoyed. The rush and thrill of it all had turned his once boring life upside down. Kevin and Juyeon had met back when Kevin was not yet in command. He was out on a mission when someone bumped into him on the streets. 

That someone was Juyeon. 

Juyeon had been covered in blood, ripped clothes hanging off of his body, he limped past Kevin but not before apologizing. Kevin had held him back. “You okay buddy?” 

Now, after all these years, Kevin was glad he did. Not only had he saved Juyeon’s life that but he had also found his best friend in someone who was not involved in the mob activities. 

Or well, not back then anyway, now he was just as involved as Kevin but that had come naturally when Kevin told him about his double life. Juyeon’s curiosity getting the better of him at the stories he was told. 

Though Juyeon continued to have thoughts about what things would have been like if he had never gotten involved. Being at the cafe, between the two worlds, was where he thought about it most. And every single time he concluded he was glad to have bumped into Kevin, glad to have become part of the mob.

“Should we head back?” 

The question interrupted his train of thought, eyes refocusing from where he had been staring into the distance. Juyeon nodded, “Yeah let’s do that.” He answered, already getting up to discard his cup in the trash. 

As they walked outside Chanhee called out to them. “See you next week!” He yelled, lips curling upwards into a soft smile. 

“See ya!” 

With that Kevin let the door close behind him, then moving towards the car to get in. This time it was Juyeon who held him back, “How about we go have some fun first?” He proposed. 

“And what kind of fun would that be?” Kevin questioned, eyebrows knitting together in confusion, hadn’t they just agreed to head back home? 

Juyeon chuckled, “Up to you. Arcade, movies, anything really. We have three more hours until the meeting.” His voice laced with hope Kevin would give in. 

Shaking his head Kevin took the car keys from Juyeon, “Sorry buddy. Not really in the mood for that. I have work to do, couldn’t get it done before.” He mumbled as he walked around to the other side of the car. Juyeon let his head drop, reluctantly opening the door and sliding into the seat. “If you say so.” 

“After tomorrow we’ll do both alright?” Kevin said, seeing the disappointment on his friend’s face made him feel bad, but he had responsibilities. 

Juyeon didn’t look at him as he nodded, thoughts already somewhere Kevin couldn’t reach him. He tended to do that. It wasn’t because he was being petty Kevin had learned, no it was his reaction to being turned down. 

After a big argument years ago Kevin had asked him about it, not understanding why every time he said no to Juyeon he got all silent and distant. 

Juyeon had burst into tears before he could start explaining. 

Later that night, Kevin learned it was because he was scared of how Kevin would react if he kept pushing to get his way. He had been confused until Juyeon told him his dad used to get physical when he did. 

Juyeon came from a broken family, father an alcoholic, his mother having died of heroin addiction when he was seven. Because his father hadn’t known how to properly raise a child, beating him had apparently seemed like the way out. 

Not knowing better Juyeon had learned to deal with that. Not ever daring to ask for something, let alone ask again when he wanted a toy or snack really badly. This habit hadn’t left when he was put into foster care. 

Even now, when he was a grown adult, Juyeon still fell silent and retracted into his own world when he was denied something or turned down by someone. It wasn’t as bad as when they had first met and multiple incidents had led to the big argument, but whenever Juyeon was stressed or under pressure, small things like this still made silent and closed off. 

Kevin hated seeing his friend like that. 

He still felt bad when he turned Juyeon down but he also knew that he shouldn’t treat him differently, Juyeon wouldn’t appreciate that. 

Kevin started singing along to the song playing, it was a favorite of his, Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud. And no that has nothing to do with the fact that the lyrics remind him of Jacob. Nothing. 

Shortly after he could hear Juyeon humming next to him. With a smile Kevin glanced at him from the corner of his eye, “You want to plug in your phone?” He asked softly, trying not to startle the other. 

Juyeon turned to him, corners of his mouth tugging upwards into a small smile, a sparkle in his eyes. “Can I?” The excitement in his voice made Kevin chuckle as he took the aux cable and handed it to him. “Of course Ju.” 

Eager, Juyeon took the cable, phone already in his hand ready to be plugged in. “I have this playlist I found recently, it’s full of songs to dance to.” Pressing shuffle he looked up at Kevin, gauging his reaction. “How’s this?” 

“The Weeknd? Really? You can’t go wrong with that, what else is in there?” Kevin asked, glad Juyeon was already back to his normal enthusiasm over music. 

Juyeon’s brows knitted together as he thought of other songs, “There’s quite a number of songs by Chase Atlantic actually, Kehlani is in there too, I believe I saw Rosalía as well. The amount of Spanish songs is insane.” He summed up, body swaying as he succumbed to the music. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“What for?” Juyeon asked, confusion clouding his sharp features, eyes searching Kevin’s face for an answer. 

Kevin huffed, “You know what. Not meeting you when we were younger to save you. Pulling you into this life, you should have been a professional dancer competing in these worldwide competitions. That’s where you belong. I’m sorry I couldn’t give that to you.” 

It was Juyeon’s turn to huff. “Kevin. How many times have we had this conversation?” 

Hanging his head as he pulled into their driveway Kevin sighed, “More than I can count.” He admitted. “And what do I tell you every single time?” Juyeon continued asking. 

“That you’re happy here.” 

Juyeon smiled, “Exactly. Listen Kev, you saved my life regardless of timing. I made the choice to follow you here and get involved. You need to stop blaming yourself for that.” He said with determination in his voice as he gripped the other’s arm. 

“Besides, professional dancer or not, I’m going to keep dancing anyway. I don’t need that to be my job. I very much enjoy putting all my thoughts aside and completely losing myself in the music by dancing. It’s the best possible outlet.” 

Kevin smiled, “I know. I just can’t help but think you could have something better every once in a while,” He said, locking eyes with Juyeon. “I just want to see you happy and succeeding.” 

“I’m doing that right here. I wouldn’t be the same without you Kev, we are succeeding together.” 

Kevin chuckled, slinging his arm around the other and pulling him in for a hug which was happily returned. They sat there for a bit, a moment of affection, showing they cared. Situations like this were rare, the mob didn’t allow for vulnerability. 

“Enough sappiness let’s get this meeting over with, I need my sleep.” Juyeon let out a laugh at the comment, stepping out of the car as he responded. “You need your beauty sleep.” 

Quickly running away from Kevin he was out of the garage even before Kevin registered what he had said. This kid. Kevin shook his head before following after Juyeon, albeit at his own relaxed pace. Just the briefing and then he could turn in for the night. 

Entering the meeting room he smiled to himself at the fact that even with thirty minutes left until he had wanted everyone here, they had all showed up already. Kevin gave Hyunjae a nod in acknowledgment that he had seen him before he strolled over to his husband. 

“Hey, Jacob.” 

The person in question looked up at him, lips forming a smile as he spoke. “Hey, Kev.” He let his hands rest on the younger’s hips the second he stood, “Is everything alright?” Jacob asked softly while leaning in closer. 

Kevin nodded stiffly, “All good.” One would think he had gotten used to them playing pretend with all these people around but even now he still tensed up at the slightest bit of affection. 

“Can we talk after this,” The older spoke again, “there are some things I want to discuss with you.” 

Another nod, “Sure.” With that Kevin stepped away from him and back to the front of the room, clearing his throat to get the attention back to him. “Since you are all here we will start early.” He announced, Juyeon starting the screen projector. 

Together they explained where they would enter the warehouse after their snipers took out the guards. Cameras would be hacked by Hyunjae the second Sunwoo gave him a sign, this is turn Haknyeon and Juyeon’s sign the area was clear. 

When they moved in, they had fifteen minutes to get the blueprints from the vault and place the bombs. Juyeon told his men where they would find the documents and where they would meet afterward. 

“I want everybody on their respective locations at 8 o’clock, we move 10 minutes after so we should be out long before 8:30. Is that clear?” 

A collective yes echoed through the room. Satisfied Kevin raised his arm and motioned towards the door, “Dismissed.”

In a steady flow all the men and women that were gathered exited the room, leaving Kevin, Juyeon, Hyunjae, Jacob, Sunwoo and Haknyeon behind. Questioningly they looked at Kevin and Jacob, waiting for one of them to either send them away or give them another task. 

“Go.” 

Haknyeon and Sunwoo flew out of the room, the younger of the two yelling something about food as they saw him racing down the hallway. Hyunjae and Juyeon followed, the former shaking his car keys to let Jacob know he will wait there. 

Finally they’re alone. Suddenly Kevin felt nervous, _what did Jacob want to discuss?_

“I’m asking Sangyeon to move in.”

_So it was about that._

Kevin nodded, “I know. Hyunjae texted me this morning, said you were going furniture shopping.” He watched as confusion washed over Jacob’s face before it was replaced with a smile. “You’re not mad?”

Now it was his turn to be confused, “Should I be?” he returned the question. “I can get mad if that’s what you want.” The addition earned him a chuckle from Jacob as he shook his head, “No thanks, keep that for your subordinates.”

“It’s fine Jake, just let me know when you need anything else for the house. I will provide whatever you need so you two can live comfortably.”

“You say that like Hyunjae and I don’t already live in a huge mansion that you paid for. I’m sure we’ll be fine. Thanks, Kev.” Jacob smiled as he embraced Kevin, arms loosely hanging around his shoulders, “Gonna go now, bye.”

Kevin waved at him before shutting the door behind Jacob. Room all to himself. 

_I’m an idiot._


	2. The Next Step

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: blood and injury, not graphic but it's there
> 
> I am here to give you chapter 2 of this fic, I hope you enjoy

“Moving in in 60 seconds.”

Kevin’s voice was clear over his in-ear as Sunwoo kept his rifle trained on the guards. One of his men was next to him, ready to take out the other guard when Kevin gave them their sign. He knew that on the opposite side of the building the situation was similar, two of his men mirroring them to take out the two guards there. 

“45 seconds.” 

Hyunjae was sat back at HQ with Jacob, he had wanted to be present at the scene but Kevin was adamant about staying at HQ. The hacking was just as effective so it wouldn’t matter in that sense, besides Kevin wanted as little men at the scene as possible, not taking any risks. Jacob nodded stiffly at Hyunjae from where he sat, eyes once again focusing on the screen that showed everybody’s body cams.

“30 seconds.”

Juyeon shifted to his other foot, adrenaline coursing through his veins as he listened to the line going silent. Haknyeon was next to him, eyes trained on their way in, knees bent and heels lifted off the ground, ready to sprint off towards the warehouse. Focusing, he waited for Hyunjae’s signal, slowly standing from where he’d been crouching for the past 5 minutes. 

“15 seconds.”

Kevin heard his voice echo through the van, it was tense. He was aware of everything that could go wrong in the short timespan that they needed for the mission. The endless possibilities ran through his mind before he shut them out. He trusted his men. He knew they’d manage, everyone would be okay.

“Now.”

Sunwoo pulled the trigger, target dropping to the ground within seconds. Simultaneously the other guard fell over as well. Job done. A voice over the earpiece, “Targets out.” 

He smiled to himself before speaking into his microphone, “Hyunjae your turn.” 

“On it.” 

Hands flying over the keys it only took him two minutes to get the security cameras down. A nod at Jacob and hand on his own microphone, “Cameras down. You can move.” 

Juyeon motioned at Haknyeon, he knew the younger had heard Hyunjae as well, it was all they needed before they were sprinting over the terrain to the backdoor of the warehouse. 

Standing at the door Haknyeon made quick work of breaking the door open, Juyeon slipping inside, followed by their men before Haknyeon closed the door behind himself again. The first mission was the blueprints. 

Thanks to their thorough research finding them shouldn’t be a problem. Juyeon knew he only had to go up the stairs, walk through the door on the left at the end of the hallway, open the vault and run. 

Reality proved to be more difficult much to his disappointment, there were several locks Hyunjae had to shut down before he could even enter the room. “Hyung, hurry up, we’re running out of time here.” 

Hyunjae’s voice resounded in his ear, clearly frustrated as he spat back at him, “I’m trying.” Rolling his eyes at the impatient attitude of the younger. It was well-known among the higher-ups that his patience wore thin rather quickly during missions. 

The adrenaline missions brought made him that much more sensitive, not sparing anyone in the need to achieve his goals. Hyunjae was aware of this, had been for years and even then Juyeon managed to get on his nerves time and time again. 

“It’s open.” 

“I know, asshole.” I opened it. He wanted to add but refrained from doing so, any possible distraction could become fatal if it meant Juyeon didn’t get his part of the plan done in time. 

Said man rushed inside the room, eyes on where he knew the vault would be. Not wasting any time he pulled out his equipment, cracking the code an easy job. 

The second he heard a click Juyeon swung it open, hands already inside looking for the right prints when Haknyeon attracted his attention. “Movement downstairs, we have to get the explosives in place now.”

“Got it.” Juyeon smiled at the younger, waving the blueprint, “Let’s get out of here.” 

Haknyeon shook his head, though a small smile found its way on his face as he ran out of the room. Going after him Juyeon fumbled with the document, trying to decide if folding it would be okay or if he should roll it up. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a scream. Alarmed he shoved the print into the hands of his subordinate while the two of them ran to the source of the sound. Juyeon knew that voice, he wouldn’t scream without a good reason. 

Having come to a stop at the top of the staircase he oversaw the entire building, eyes frantically searching for a sign that would give away Haknyeon’s position. 

There.

On the floor, near the wall he found him. 

Juyeon wasted no time getting to the younger, “What happened?” His eyes searching for a wound before settling on his leg. Blood gushing out of the golden skin under Haknyeon’s hand. 

“Guy shot me seconds earlier than I shot him. The only difference is that he died and I am alive.”

Even now he joked, as much as Juyeon wanted to scold him for letting his guard down he was aware that Haknyeon joking meant he was okay. Lifting him off of the ground bridal-style he looked back at their men gathered around them. 

“I want those bombs installed within two minutes, we’re running out of time.”

Nothing was closer to the truth, they had spent too much time garnering the blueprints and taking care of Haknyeon cost time too. Two minutes was all the time they had left of the arranged 15 minutes. 

He received a nod, one he knew meant they would get it done. They always got it done, he trusted these people with his life. 

Proven right he faced all of the people who had gone inside with him and Haknyeon not 2 minutes  
later, “Moving out.” He hissed through the microphone, signaling Kevin to be ready to leave. 

Dragging Haknyeon with him wasn’t a problem, what was a problem however was the fact that the younger was losing consciousness. The cloth primitively wrapped around his leg was drenched with blood and that was more than a little concerning. 

They were going to have to do something about that. 

“Kev, I’m going to need you to call Chan. Haknyeon got shot and I want him treated before returning to HQ.”

“On it,” Kevin said, internally cursing himself for the younger’s injury. Dialing Chan he drummed his fingers on the dashboard in front of him impatiently. When he picked up Kevin gave him hurried directions to a café nearby. 

Chan would be there before they were. 

Stepping out of the van Kevin was met the sight of Juyeon carrying a near unconscious Haknyeon. His gut twisted in the knowledge that he could have very well died in there instead of getting away with a bullet to his leg. 

“Flower Snack.”

It sounded so out of place in the whole ongoing situation. It was out of place with their entire lifestyle if he was honest. 

Juyeon nodded, already opening the door to the passenger’s of the car, “You can go back with the rest of ‘em, get the prints and dismiss them. They worked hard.” Even now with a life at risk, he made sure to praise their men. 

“You just make sure Hak lives. I know what I’m doing.”

A soft chuckle and wave, speeding away seconds later in the direction of town to meet Chan. He  
glanced sideways, seeing the otherwise golden skin drained of color, “Hakkie, you still with me?”

The question was met with a long silence, only broken when the younger croaked out a whisper, “Hurts.”

“I know. Just hang on for two more minutes, Chan will take care of you.” Juyeon reassured him, hand grabbing hold of Haknyeon’s, squeezing to let him know he was there. A weak squeeze enveloping his own in return. 

Coming to a halt right in front of the café Juyeon already saw Chan waiting in his own car, the redhead jumping out as soon as he recognized them. 

Together they carried Haknyeon inside, don’t ask Juyeon how Chan had access to this place, he didn’t know either. Kevin had once said something along the lines of one of Chan’s higher-ups being able to enter any building in the country without leaving a single trace. 

It wasn’t until Juyeon had met Hyunjin months later that he thought he understood. The blonde was smart and very creative when it came to entering buildings, he had seen as much. 

Now he was thankful for the younger’s skills, he would let him know later. 

Settling for letting Haknyeon rest on a table while Chan worked he wandered through the shop. Thoughts going thousands of miles an hour as he tried to understand how they might have had either missed a guard or not noticed someone coming inside. 

Surely Sunwoo would have given him a signal if someone new appeared. No, they must have been inside already that was the only reasonable explanation. Then how had they not seen the person when entering the warehouse? 

He prided himself on his excellent hearing and vision and yet he had somehow missed a grown adult, it just didn’t make sense. Gears in his brain working at full-speed he didn’t hear Chan calling out to him. 

“Juyeon?” 

The tone of his voice indicating it wasn’t the first time he said the name.

“Yeah sorry, what’s up?” He answered sheepishly, walking back to Haknyeon and examining the work Chan had done. 

The latter smiled at him, “Nothing too serious, he just like a shit ton of blood is all. The muscle tissue of his rectus femoris took the hit. It’s torn partially so that will take a while to heal but other than that he should be able to get back to training in eight weeks tops.”

“You say that like he won’t not be walking for two weeks and can only start training again after two whole months.” Juyeon groaned, knowing it would mess up multiple of their planned hits.  
Beside them, Haknyeon chuckled lightly, “Hyung, I think he meant I won’t die because of the injury. From a doctor’s perspective that is nothing serious.” 

Grimacing Juyeon turned to him, “Watch it you brat or you will be back on death’s doorstep soon.”

Chan huffed, “Like you would hurt him.” Knowing how to push his buttons after years of occasionally working together on bigger projects. It worked because Juyeon playfully shoved him aside before helping Haknyeon to stand.

“Thanks, Kevin will get you your payment.”

A curt nod and salute serving as greeting Chan walked back out after them, closing the door like it hadn’t been opened in the first place. 

“It’s been a while since someone has put me to bed.” 

Juyeon couldn’t help but snort at the younger’s remark, “If you don’t shut up it will also be the last.” He warned playfully. 

“Tell Kevin that. Don’t think he will let you off.” Haknyeon deadpanned, knowing expression on his pained face. Grinning up at Juyeon he mimicked smacking him on his arm, the older dramatically dropping to the ground. 

A loud laugh bubbled out of Haknyeon’s chest, “Kevin wouldn’t hit that hard.” He said while settling further into the pillows. 

“If only you knew, you can take my place in training next time.”

Shaking his head the younger was quick to deny, “No thanks. I am perfectly fine training with Sunwoo.”

Juyeon raised an eyebrow as he leaned in close, “I’m sure you are, you never do anything. I might ask Kevin to switch things up when you recover.”

“Hyung..” Haknyeon pouted, hands tugging on the other’s arm, “Please don’t I barely see Sunwoo as is, don’t take that away from me.” The plea brought a teasing smile face to Juyeon’s face. 

“That’s more like it, brat.” He chuckled patting his hair, “You get some rest I will be in my room so just shout if you need anything.”

The younger nodded before whispering a soft goodnight as he turned off the lights. Leaving the door and closing the door behind him Juyeon let out a sigh. He tried relaxing his muscles but everything felt stiff. 

Both the pressure of the earlier mission and the stress about Haknyeon making it impossible for his body to truly let go of its alert and tense state. 

Kevin and he had spoken about Haknyeon at HQ, it was unlike the younger to get injured, especially on relatively easy missions like this one. Maybe it was to blame on a lack of focus but neither found that to be a good explanation, not with the knowledge that he focused better than anyone else. 

Even an off-day for Haknyeon meant he was sharper than any of their subordinates could ever be. There had to be something more that he wasn’t telling them. His thoughts drifted back to the conversation just now, could it be that the team’s youngest formed a distraction for Haknyeon?

He really wished that wasn’t true. Haknyeon and Sunwoo formed a strong duo, both inside and outside of jobs. Their chemistry was something Kevin had immediately picked up on when he took them in years ago. 

Heaving another deep sigh Juyeon drops onto the mattress, eyes automatically closing at the comfort of the blankets surrounding him. They would figure something out, Kevin somehow always came up with the simplest yet most effective solution in a very short timespan. 

Knowing it wouldn’t be any different this time around Juyeon fell into a slumber, thoughts slowly but surely coming to a halt, a dreamless sleep overtaking him. 

“How about we arrange it like this?” 

Jacob looked over to see Hyunjae standing by their new couch, teeth worrying his lip and frown evidence of the thought he was putting into this. 

“Hyunnie you know you don’t have to do this, right?” He said softly, walking over and wrapping his arms around his shoulders, “Changing up the bedroom was most important, Sangyeon-hyung is going to love the rest of the house regardless.” 

He knew Hyunjae loved decorating, he had majored in interior design, thus he was very much involved in what their house looked like. The day before yesterday at the store he had been so excited to find new furniture that they ended up buying all these things they didn’t need, but who was Jacob to say no? 

The furniture they replaced had already been brought to a company downtown that wanted to resell it. All new pieces were now chaotically spread across the living room and all of sudden he was thankful Hyunjae had only agreed to change up that part of the mansion. 

Imagine the situation if they had changed up the kitchen and the spare rooms as well. 

Smiling at his friend who had gone back to dragging the couch across the room to face the big floor-length window Jacob shook his head. He was such a perfectionist and he would not rest until everything made sense to him and his interior design-loving mind. 

To be fair, if it wasn’t for Hyunjae their house definitely wouldn’t have been as warm and cozy as it was right now. Living in a mansion this size with two people was kind of overwhelming, especially with all the unoccupied rooms they had left. 

Not only had Hyunjae been quick to hit up some friends for ideas, but he also made sure to continuously ask Jacob for his opinion. Together they came up with the final plan, the plan that made a house a home. 

With Sangyeon moving in there were a few things Jacob was worried about, however, Hyunjae continuing living with him was not one of them. Quite the contrary, he was so used to having the other around, he couldn’t imagine not living together. 

Besides, the mansion was certainly big enough for a couple and their single friend to live in. Kevin providing a house with two master bedrooms and about four rooms that could function as a spare bedroom if their friends decided to sleep over. 

The remaining eight rooms of the house were respectively used as two bathrooms, two walk-in closets, three workrooms and their so-called man cave. One of the workrooms was barely used but Jacob had never gotten of rid bearing in mind that in case his relationship with Sangyeon lasted, he would want a workspace within the house as well. 

Now he was relieved he had listened to his gut, he could provide a good place for them to live in and start building their future together while also maintaining their private spaces through separate extra rooms. 

Going back to helping Hyunjae move the various pieces of furniture around he wondered what permanently living with Sangyeon would be like. Would the elder be comfortable living in a mansion this big after staying at the humble-sized apartment he had stayed in the past couple of years? 

He supposed it wouldn’t be too big of a problem seeing as the elder had stayed over at the house before and he never said anything about it. Sure, he had asked how they could afford something like this, Hyunjae had been quick to tell him Jacob’s father made a lot of money. 

Come to think of it, Jacob had only let Sangyeon meet his mother, the woman had been enthusiastic to get to know the man that made her ‘little boy’ so happy. The two got along well, Jacob watching them with a smile on his face.

Later, when his mother had called him, he realized just how grateful he was for her. Everything his father couldn’t, or didn’t want to, be when he was younger the woman had been. She let him explore his interests, taking him to places he had only heard about. 

His mother allowed him to be a child. 

To grow up like other children his age would, to forget his father’s profession and just _live._

As he told her this, Hyunjae glancing over at him from where he was seated on the couch, the tears ran down his face. Not having properly thought about the toll the lifestyle had taken on him until that very moment. 

“Hey bud, I can hear you think.”

The remark pulled a chuckle from his throat, hand swatting at the other’s arm as he joked, “That’s because I am doing all the thinking. You should try it, maybe then my thoughts won’t be as loud.”

Hyunjae snorted, closely avoiding the finger aiming to stab him in his stomach, “How about you stop bothering me then? You go to Sangyeon, act all lovey-dovey and ask him to move in so I can finish the goddamn arrangement.” 

“My apologies your highness, I don’t realize I was a bother to you. If you will excuse me, I will now take my leave and do as ordered.” Jacob deadpanned, adding a bow to his response for good measure before slipping out of the room backward. 

Striding through the hallway he whipped out his phone, shooting his boyfriend a text to let him know he would drop by for lunch. Could you call it that when Sangyeon technically only inhaled coffee while in the office? 

Whatever, Jacob would just force-feed him if he didn’t eat by himself. 

A soft knock on the door. A hum in confirmation he could enter. 

“Hey, baby.” 

“Good afternoon, executive director Lee.” Jacob teased, closing the door after stepping inside. In his hands is a bag of takeout he had picked up on the way over. Lifting the bag into Sangyeon’s line of vision he smiled softly. 

The elder chuckled lightly, stretching out his arms and back as he got up from his chair, muscles flexing under his dress-shirt, “Are you going to force an executive director to eat?” Eyebrow raising as a smirk formed on his lips. 

“If that’s what it takes for you to eat.” 

Sangyeon bit his lip, keeping himself from making an inappropriate comment, “Come here, baby.” He chose to say instead, hand beckoning the younger over. Happily complying, Jacob skipped over to the desk and wrapped his arms around the other’s neck. 

“Is my hubby forgetting he is in a professional workplace?” He questioned teasingly, eyes scanning his face, seeing nothing but absolute adoration. Leaning in he let their lips meet briefly. 

Not satisfied Sangyeon pulled him closer again, hand snaking through his locks to keep him in place, “I can do what I want in this office love.” He muttered as he moved to press open-mouthed kisses to the younger’s jaw. 

Humming Jacob turned his head to the side, “I sure believe you can but you have other stuff to get to. I just came by for lunch, I will be out the door once you finish eating.” Sangyeon ran his hands up and down his sides in a soothing manner. 

“If you say so.” 

He stole another kiss before leading Jacob over to the couch on the other side of his office, “Let’s eat then.” 

Unpacking the food they quickly got to eating. Jacob inquired about how his day had been and if the new function was worth working longer hours. 

Happy to tell his boyfriend everything Sangyeon started telling him about the meetings, how it was rewarding to get compliments and be praised by the older members of the board of executives. It was when Jacob asked him something else that his smile wavered. 

“Will you move in with me?” 

Choking on the bite he had just stuffed into his mouth Sangyeon looked at the younger with wide eyes, “Will I do what?” 

“Move in. With me and Hyunjae.” Jacob repeated, heart in his throat, swallowing heavily, was Sangyeon having second thoughts about the next step of their life together? His eyes flit over the elder’s face once more, nervously trying to find an answer. 

Slowly a careful smile appeared on his face, eyes turning into crescents as he regarded his boyfriend, “I would love that baby.” He spoke softly, “There’s nothing I want more than to fall asleep with you and wake up with you in my arms.”

“Of course, I will move in with you.” 

Jacob chuckled at the eager response, “I am sorry for waiting so long. I was scared of losing you and having to return to living without you by my side at all times.” He was quick to apologize. Knowing Sangyeon had tried striking up the conversation before but Jacob always changed the topic. 

Now it was different. Now Jacob was the one initiating the talk, Sangyeon the one accepting the offer. “It’s okay baby, I would have given you more time if that’s what you needed.” Hand caressing his cheek softly. 

“I know.” Jacob mused, moving from the couch onto the elder’s lap, “I am so grateful to be able to call you mine.” 

Sangyeon smiled up at him, head tilting backward to get a good look at his face, “I am forever yours, baby.” True to his habit he pressed the words into the younger’s skin, lips tracing up from his collarbone to his jaw and then to his lips. 

Jacob felt giddy about the prospect of starting their life as a couple in a new environment, an environment that was theirs, designed to make them feel at home. He could see the happiness radiating off of his boyfriend. It brought a content smile to his face, letting Sangyeon kiss him languidly, for a moment not worrying about a co-worker walking in on them. 

When he pulled back to breathe he rested his forehead against Sangyeon’s, “I should go. I can start packing up some stuff and move it to our place already. The rest will follow this weekend.” 

Nodding Sangyeon felt a tingling sensation in his stomach, Jacob had said _our_ place, before this meant his and Hyunjae’s. Now he was part of that us too. No longer your and my place, but _our place_. 

Combining such a trivial part of their separate lives was not something either of them had necessarily craved or longed for, living separately had its charms as well. Yet at the same time, it was a testimony of how serious the relationship was. Because no matter how many times they confessed their love to one another, actions speak louder than words. 

Jacob stole another kiss before jumping up and walking over to the door, “See you at home.” 

The sentence suddenly holding a different meaning left Sangyeon speechless, just staring at the door where it fell shut after his boyfriend had stepped outside. 

With renewed energy he slipped back onto his chair, making quick work of the reports left on his desk so he could leave work on time and go home. _Home_ , that sounded good. 

As he gathered the most important of Sangyeon’s belongings his eyes lingered on the pictures on the wall. Sangyeon tended to do that, take pictures of big events or sneakily capture Jacob when he wasn’t paying attention. 

The memories came flooding back to him like they always did when he let himself relish in what they had. Mind somewhere in the last three years they had spent together he continued packing. Clothes, shoes, chargers, toiletries, everything he could think of was shoved into the various boxes he brought. 

Deciding his boyfriend would probably be able to survive until the weekend with what was inside the boxes Jacob started making his way over to the elevator. 

Depositing the boxes into his car, his new Ferrari Portofino M. Just maybe he had suddenly been tempted to buy more than new furniture once they were on their shopping spree. Hyunjae had scolded him for buying another car however, even that didn’t stop him once he laid eyes on this beauty. 

Okay, yes, Jacob really loved speeding around town in expensive, fast cars. Wasn’t that the dream of every little boy though? 

Admittedly, this car might not be the most practical he owns but then again, sometimes you wanted something so much that it being practical or not didn’t matter. He had the money, might as well spend it.  
Pulling into the driveway he was greeted by Hyunjae. His best friend unloading the boxes and helping him carry them to his now shared bedroom. 

“I take it he said yes?” Hyunjae said while walking up the stairs. Snorting Jacob gave him a little shove with the boxes he was holding, “No he said no that’s why I am bringing his belongings here.” 

The other shook his head, to be fair, it had been an obvious question and he had not expected anything but an affirmative answer. As they walked back to the living room which was finally good enough according to Hyunjae, he spoke again. 

“Celebratory dinner tonight? I can ask the other boys over if you want, it’s been a while since we last met up all together.” 

Nodding Jacob grabbed his phone, “Just ask who wants to come over, I will see if he can make it home on time.” And shot a quick text to Sangyeon asking what time he expected to finish work. 

Within minutes he got a text back saying _7 at last, that is if nobody bothers me and brings new files in.._

This caused Jacob to chuckle lowly, “Hyung can make it.” He informed Hyunjae who nodded, brows furrowed like whenever he was deep in thought. It seemed to be the reason this time around as well, the other suddenly storming off to the kitchen in a hurry. 

“Fuck!”

Confused by the profanity Jacob made his way over to Hyunjae, bursting out into laughter as he took in the sight. Hyunjae was trying to get rid of the smoke coming out of the oven telling Jacob he had probably been baking a cake or the like. 

Opening the window above the sink to at least not have the smell of smoke linger in the kitchen Hyunjae glared at the other, “It is not funny, I baked Sangyeon’s favorite so he could enjoy it after work and now it’s burned.” 

Immediately adding to that, “Your fault.” 

Now it was Jacob’s fault to gape at the other, “And how exactly is this my fault?” 

“You distracted me when you came home.” 

Letting out a loud laugh Jacob doubled over, “Oh please Hyunnie, you were in the driveway before I even pulled up. Pretty sure you were outside for some ‘inexplicable’ reason and are just trying to blame me now.” He deadpanned. 

The glare he got told him enough. Whenever Hyunjae ran out of arguments to use against him, regardless of how pointless the discussion was to begin with, he just glared. Jacob was pretty sure if the saying ‘if looks could kill’ was reality, he would have been living his nth life right now. 

Snickering to himself he exited the kitchen and strolled back into the living room, draping his body over the big couch. Hyunjae had done a good job with the arrangement as usual. He knew he would have never had the patience to repeatedly rearrange. 

Messages start flooding into the chat that holds all six of them. Sunwoo and Haknyeon never missing out on a chance at free food, Kevin loving celebrations no matter the occasion and Juyeon, ever sweet Juyeon, asking if he needs to bring anything for the couple. 

Dismissing the offer Jacob shot a text to let them know to be there at 5:30 so they had some time to catch up on other things before Sangyeon joins them. 

The first to arrive were Sunwoo and Haknyeon, shortly followed by Kevin and Juyeon who had some things left to wrap up at HQ. 

Sitting in the living room they spent their time talking about Haknyeon’s injury which seemed to be healing just fine so far. The boy waved off Jacob when he tried to give him a blanket and pillows for extra comfort, offering to let him live with them for the time being. 

“I am doing alright staying with Juyeon. At least he is kind when he is not at HQ commanding people to do all sorts of things.” He spoke cheekily before swiftly dodging the pillow aimed at his face.

Sunwoo was quick to say he could also take care of Haknyeon if it bothered Juyeon which caused Kevin and Juyeon to exchange looks. “You need the place to yourself Sunwoo, living with two people won’t do.”

Pouting the youngest complies, going back to sipping his beer while occasionally sneaking glances at Haknyeon. The only one who doesn’t see it is Haknyeon himself, the others continuously looking at one another, entire conversations playing out. 

“Did you get the information you needed?” Jacob wondered out loud, eyes on Kevin who seemed a bit out of it. The younger stirred as if he had not expected Jacob to speak to him. 

He nodded stiffly, “The prints match the informant’s letters. It’s just that there are a lot of other things we can’t exactly account for when we do a heist like this. We’re going to lose a lot of time on planning.” The addition not a surprise to Jacob. 

Back when he still actively had to play his part in hits and other operations he had learned big heists like this one were the most difficult to plan. You had to keep in mind so many factors that could go from being in your favor to being the reason for failure. 

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do. I might look at things from a different perspective.” 

Thankful the younger smiled, Jacob truly was an angel, always offering help even if it meant being involved in something he hated. 

As Hyunjae changed the topic of conversation, mocking Juyeon about his predictions about a soccer match, the bell rang. 

Jacob jumped up, gliding over the marble floor of the hallway on his socks before swinging the door open and launching himself onto Sangyeon, “Welcome home love.” He muttered in between soft pecks to the other’s lips. 

A low chuckle bubbled in the elder’s chest, strong arms wrapping around him to hold him up, “Hey baby.” 

Leading Sangyeon to the living room he smiled unsurely, “We invited some friends over to celebrate, I hope that’s okay.” The last half a quick addition that told the elder Jacob was nervous. He squeezed his hand reassuringly. 

“Of course it is.” 

Everyone greeted Sangyeon loudly, shouting well-wishes and congratulations at him. Hyunjae without fail teasingly telling him he hoped his presence wouldn’t bother the couple. The eldest shaking his head, “You know it has never been so I don’t expect it to be now.” 

The rest of the evening passed by in a blur, the copious amount of ordered food devoured by seven hungry adults within the span of an hour. Multiple soju bottles along with wine and cans of beer laying emptied out across the room by the end of it. 

Ever the good guest Juyeon helped Hyunjae get rid of most of the mess once Kevin made them aware of the fact that it was time to go home. 

It was decided everybody would just sleep over. There were enough rooms anyway and Jacob was not about to burden Juyeon with taken all of their, at the very least tipsy, friends home on his own. 

Once all four spare bedrooms housed one of their friends Jacob said goodnight to Hyunjae, pulling Sangyeon along into their bedroom. “My head hurts.” He complained softly, pouting at the elder who just ruffled his hair. 

“I told you to drink you less but you insisted on it.” 

“Hmm.” Jacob sighed as he fell into bed, hair splayed across the pillow. Sangyeon snuck in next to him, tugging at the cover until he rolled over so they could both comfortably lie underneath the warm material. 

Spooning the younger Sangyeon pressed a kiss into his nape, “Goodnight, baby.” 

Jacob pressing a kiss to the hand slung over his side in response as he dozed off, “Goodnight, hyung.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't just do the angst so to make up for that I thought a whole lot of fluff would be good lol 
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter, don't forget to leave a comment and kudos if you did, means a lot to me
> 
> come yell at me on twitter @jumilsbish if you want
> 
> see you next week (hopefully)!


	3. All You Need Is Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: guns/gunshots, knives
> 
> We are slowly easing into the actual plot instead of the more introductory chapters, enjoy!

The next morning Sangyeon woke up early, luckily without a pounding headache. Lying on his side he couldn’t help but smile as he regarded his still sleeping boyfriend. 

Jacob looked so peaceful like this. 

He lifted his hand, lightly brushing over the younger’s cheekbone. Staring in awe at the raw beauty he sighed to himself. 

“You’re so beautiful.” 

As if he has heard him Jacob’s eyes fluttered open. He looked up at the older through his long eyelashes, corners of his lips lifting into a soft smile. 

“Good morning.” 

His voice breaking around the last syllable moments before yawning loudly. Sangyeon felt a chuckle bubble in his chest, he loved the raw edge, the deep rumble in his lover’s voice when he just woke up. 

“Hey, baby,” He whispered as he peppered kisses all over his face, “did you sleep well?” 

Jacob moved forward, burying his face in the elder’s chest while letting out a groan in protest, “M still tired. Can’t we go back to sleep?” 

The feeling of lips on his bare chest sent a shiver down Sangyeon’s spine, “Shouldn’t you be a good host and prepare breakfast.” Teasing as his hand settled on the younger’s hip. 

“Don’t want to.” 

Chuckling Sangyeon nuzzled his hair, “We should though.” Another kiss pressed onto his hair. 

Jacob shook his head, effectively shutting up his lover when he locked their lips, “We?” He mused in between the slow meeting of tongues. 

“Since I live here now I suppose I am responsible too.” A smile playing on his lips when he pulled back far enough to look into his eyes. 

Looking up at him with hazy eyes the younger hummed, “I suppose... Though we could make Hyunjae do it.” Mischief showing on his face as he leaned in again. 

This kiss too, was slow, Sangyeon’s grip on his hip tightening when he put his hands on his chest. Pushing him over until he was on his back Jacob was quick to move onto his lap. 

“You are a menace. You know that, right?” 

Jacob chuckled lowly, “You love me.” 

With a smile Sangyeon connected their lips one last time, “I do, but we are still making breakfast.” He stated before sitting up, thus causing the younger to fall back on the mattress. 

“Not fair.” His lover pouted as he looked up at him, “Are you going to be like this every morning?” 

Mocking offense Sangyeon gasped audibly, “This is literally our first morning officially living together and you are picking a fight?” 

Jacob narrowed his eyes at him, “You’re lucky we have guests over or you wouldn’t get away with this.” Amusement shining through in his sharp features. 

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” 

Quickly throwing on a shirt he walked out of the room, leaving Jacob to decide whether he came along or went back to bed. 

A loud groan echoed down the hallway and Sangyeon couldn’t stop the laugh deep in his chest as he ascended the stairs. 

Eventually, he felt arms wrap around his waist and a body plastered against his back. Smiling to himself he continued cooking. He had decided on making English breakfast, if he was being honest ninety percent of that choice had been because it was easy. 

“Can you help?” 

The soft press of lips against his nape the younger’s answer prior to questioning, “What’d you want me to do?” 

He pointed at the fridge, “If you start with making pancake batter that’d already help a lot. It’s the only part not done yet.” 

“Shouldn’t you bake those when everyone’s awake though?” 

“I didn’t say bake the pancakes.” Countering with the ease of an expert. To be fair, he kind of was an expert when talking about Jacob’s antics. None of his little habits having gone unnoticed after three years of being together. 

The younger shook his head, “No, you didn’t. You’re right.” Swiftly pecking his lips before sliding over to the fridge and grabbing the ingredients. 

Cooking was something they engaged in often. Both of them finding peace in the preparation of healthy, admittedly sometimes not so healthy, food. It functioned as a way of relaxing after a long day at work. 

It had started with Sangyeon wanting to start eating healthier back when he began working out regularly. Rambling on about carbs, protein, and whatnot whenever Jacob was over and they cooked dinner. 

Even if he had been hesitant about it at first Jacob soon realized that he too actually liked the new diet. He felt better than ever before and the extra ‘gains’ at the gym, as Sangyeon liked to call it, were definitely a pro as well. 

Moving around the kitchen in harmony as if they were executing some intricate choreography Jacob started singing softly. Sangyeon loved his voice, it always managed to calm him down and make him feel at ease.

The older man observed his boyfriend, he seemed so at peace whenever he was singing. Sometimes he wondered if perhaps that was the reason there had to be sound in one way or another wherever he went. 

It wasn’t something they had spoken about in detail, Sangyeon giving him space to talk about it if he was ever ready. He knew the younger would open up eventually in case he wanted to. 

Never had it been a bother to him, not when they had established very early on that opening up about the past would only happen when the person telling the story was comfortable. Both of them had their own things and that was okay. 

“I’m done.” 

Blinking up at him from mere centimeters away stood Jacob. A brief thought of when he had zoned out enough for him to get so close passed his mind as he touched his hand to the younger’s cheek. 

Sangyeon chuckled softly, “Go wake the others then, I’ll get to baking.” 

With a nod Jacob ventured back upstairs to knock on all five doors of which all but Juyeon’s were still shut. Calling out to them that breakfast was ready he got surprised when Hyunjae swung his door open. 

Or rather, Juyeon opened the door to the other’s room, “Hey, hyung.” Was all he muttered before slipping past him and to the stairs to avoid any further confrontation. 

“What was that, Hyunnie?” His best friend glared at him from his bed, no answer to his question aside from the small quirk of his lips. 

A knowing shake of his head and a teasing wink thrown at Hyunjae earned him a pillow to his face. 

Quickly running away to prevent more pillows from being thrown into the hallway Jacob bumped into Kevin who just came stumbling out of his bedroom. 

“Morning.” Jacob said with a bright smile. Making small-talk they went downstairs together, finding everybody gathered around the table. Or well, all of their guests because Hyunjae had not followed after them yet. 

Exchanging good mornings and asking about their night while eating proved to be an excellent way to start their day. Everybody’s spirits were through the roof by the time they finished eating and got ready to leave. 

Kevin pulled the two youngest along with him and Sangyeon excused himself before leaving to get to the office on time for a meeting with the board. 

Not wanting to be involved in whatever was going on between Hyunjae and Juyeon he decided it was best to lock himself in the bathroom and take a long shower.

An hour passed and it was only then that Jacob walked into the living room, Hyunjae lounging around as if nothing had happened mere hours prior. 

“Juyeonie, really?”

Shock washed over the other’s face for a split-second before it was replaced with a shy smile, “He didn’t feel well so I asked him to stay in my room is all.” 

Jacob bit his lip to hold back a comment Hyunjae was not ready to hear. Relationships were a touchy topic seeing how some of his past relationships had been and Jacob knew better than to overwhelm him now. 

Things would either work out eventually or it would pass and they wouldn’t have to talk about it ever again. 

Settling down next to him he felt an arm wrapping around his shoulder, “We’ll see where it goes.” The sentence was a whisper as a head rested on his, it was enough for this point in time, both of them silently filing the conversation away for a later moment. 

“We are going there tonight. The two of us.” 

Sunwoo blinked at the older, confusion painting his face as he looked at the plan in front of him, “Since when do we have missions suitable for two men?” The question was an obvious one. 

It had been ages since Kevin had given them jobs that only allowed for two people to participate. 

“We have a couple of these scheduled for the upcoming weeks.” Juyeon explained, clicking around on his computer until a new screen popped up for the younger. 

Finger pointed at the top left corner he added, “We start here and just work our way through.” 

“What have they done though? Surely Kevin-hyung doesn’t just give us a hit list of random people now that the original plans are postponed.” 

It was reasonable and Sunwoo was right. They avoided unnecessary killing wherever that was possible, the mess of cleaning up and getting rid of bodies something none of them particularly liked. 

Juyeon shrugged, “Not my concern, to be honest, most of them have already been saved for too long. They’re lucky they have lived until now. Kevin no longer needs them and you know what that means, everybody who can’t contribute but knows us personally is a threat.” 

“And threats get eliminated. I know.” 

“Let’s get going then.” 

Executed as planned they entered the house undercover, taking the owner by surprise. Gun to his head Sunwoo chuckled, relishing in the waves of fear rolling off the old man. 

One clean shot through the head to blow his brains out. 

Juyeon carried the body bag to their truck while Sunwoo got rid of the blood staining the white marble floor and walls. Filthy rich men and their stupid expensive houses, they always thought they’d get away with their shit and this one had been just like that. 

The apology for sharing information about them with a rival gang ripping from his throat even before either of them had spoken up in a desperate attempt to save his life. 

The second hit was similar, except Juyeon felt it had been too long since he had used knives, slicing through the thin skin covering the man’s throat in one swift motion. 

Sunwoo whistled lowly, there was something about the expertise of the older that he couldn’t pinpoint but managed to impress him time and time again. Maybe it was the way he didn’t budge as the blood landed on his own face, maybe it was the satisfied smile that appeared after the kill. 

Two down, five to go. 

“I am sorry.” 

It was pathetic really, how easily these supposedly strong and powerful businessmen crumpled at their feet. 

“Should’ve thought about that earlier. Snitches get stitches, although stitches won’t save you.” 

The lack of emotion in Juyeon’s voice as he grabbed hold of the man’s neck sent chills down Sunwoo’s spine. 

An annoyingly high whimper found its way out of his throat when the squeezing cut off his airways. Hands grasping at the single hand holding him up the man lost consciousness shortly after, Juyeon finishing the job by expertly twisting his neck until a sickening crack echoed through the small room. 

Chuckling Sunwoo rammed his fist into the other’s face, bones giving way to his knuckles. 

Another punch delivered to the cheekbone, the sound of more bones breaking pulled him out of his trance. 

He rolled his neck, eyes connecting with Juyeon’s across the room. The impatience shining in the older’s eyes clearly a sign for him to hurry up and get the job done. 

It was satisfying seeing the light die out in the dark eyes that were bloodshot as he threw one last punch. Sunwoo’s hand connecting with the underside of his jaw knocking his head back harshly.

“You got him good.” 

“I know. Been a while since I killed someone with my hands.”

The thrill of using his hands would always be different from sniping. 

Number five. 

It was an easy one. Get in, kill, get out. 

Sunwoo was on his own for this one and frankly speaking he was happy about that. Something about this man in particular had always rubbed him the wrong way and finally getting rid of him felt good. 

He had wanted to play around, he loved playing games, but instructions were clear and there was no time to mess with him. 

“Have fun in hell, fucker.” 

One shot resounding through in the office, body falling forward over the mahogany desk. The sound of blood dripping onto the tiles the only thing disturbing the sudden silence. 

“This is where it ends for you buddy.” 

“No, please don’t kill me.”

A desperate last cry turning into a strangled noise as Juyeon thrusted the hand holding a knife into the ribcage of the man in front of him. 

Twisting the knife once, twice, thrice he grinned to himself. 

“We need to go.” 

Juyeon pushed the body off, letting it drop to the floor with a dull thud. 

He had contemplated whether this was really the smartest way to go about killing their last target. Nevertheless, it was something they barely did and Kevin hadn’t given them any restrictions so why not? 

The man stood at the railing of the yacht, clearly frightened as he realized what his fate was. 

Somehow he refrained from begging, Sunwoo guessed it might have been because he knew it wouldn’t help his cause, only draw it out even longer. 

Juyeon slammed the gun that had been pointing at the man seconds earlier into his temple with sheer strength. Effectively causing him to black out and tumble backward into the unruly sea. 

Six down. 

“So. What’s up with you and Haknyeon?” 

He should’ve seen this one coming and yet Sunwoo was taken aback, blinking at the man driving who just side-eyed him while waiting for a response. 

In a fruitless attempt to brush it off the younger shrugged, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re just friends.” 

“Just friends?” 

Juyeon turned to face him when he came to a stop at a traffic light, “I don’t think what you have is just friendship.” 

“Then what is it?” Amused at the direction the conversation was going Sunwoo looked back at him with raised eyebrows. 

Chuckling Juyeon accelerated before answering, “It’s clear you like him.” He refrained from adding Haknyeon might like him too. That wasn’t his place to tell. 

Sunwoo fell silent at that. 

He was trying to find an appropriate response that wouldn’t give him away but the pause already was answer enough. 

“So what if I do? Does it matter?” 

“It does when it distracts you from your job.” 

Confusion clouding his face Sunwoo stared off into the distance, “It hasn’t distracted me. I did what I had to when I had to do it.”

“I am just warning you. If anyone finds out they could use it against you.” Juyeon grumbled, obviously annoyed at the situation, “I want both of you to be safe when you are out on your own.” 

“Roger that.” Sunwoo huffed, he was aware the other was coming from a good place. Hell, he had practically raised both him and Haknyeon to be the people they were now. Juyeon was only saying this because he cared about them, wanted the best for them, and would do anything to keep them out of dangerous situations. 

That is when he can’t be there with them. 

And honestly, Sunwoo was happy Juyeon was there for him no matter the time and place. He had been the first to care for him that much, which was why he couldn’t believe it at first.

The younger had gone missing from his foster home for days, no signs of where he was or who he was with left behind. At the time it had seemed like a good idea, run off with his classmate Haknyeon to a hotel on the other side of the country.

However, not even two days into their escapade they concluded that maybe the plan wasn’t as watertight as they originally thought. 

When Sunwoo returned after spending another two days with Haknyeon in a different hotel Juyeon had latched onto him, overwhelming him with all sorts of questions. 

Shocked to his core at the obvious concerns the older expressed he had burst into tears, hands tightly gripping his shirt as if it was the only thing keeping him grounded. They had sat like that in the hallway for hours until their foster mom found them. 

After begging her to let him stay with Juyeon the two had been ushered upstairs to their room, she had never been the intrusive type anyway. Out of all the time they stayed at her house she had allowed them to live freely, to be young. Sure she worried for them, otherwise they wouldn’t have been there in the first place, but she usually just let them be.

Finally having calmed down enough Sunwoo fell asleep in Juyeon’s arms, still clinging to him even in his deep slumber. 

Later he had asked Juyeon why he was so concerned with his well-being. The incredulous look on his face should have said enough but Sunwoo didn’t understand, why would anyone worry about him? 

“You are my little brother, how could I not worry about you?” Juyeon had said when he saw the younger truly didn’t get it, “I will care about you for as long as I live. Nothing can change that.”

By the time Sunwoo was finally old enough to get out of the system, he hadn’t hesitated to call Juyeon. They had made a promise of staying together and he was not going to deny such an offer. 

As they explained their history to Kevin he had only smiled, welcoming Sunwoo into their little family. There was no way he had missed the admiration and concern swirling in his best friend’s eyes when he eyed the youngest who seemed to feel at ease at HQ already. 

Haknyeon had followed a year after when he learned about the life Sunwoo was living now. They had never lost contact and when his relationship with his parents took a turn for the worse it was the only place he knew he could go. 

“Thanks for taking care of him, hyung.” 

It came out a whisper but Juyeon still smiled at him and extended his hand, palm up for the younger to put his hand in. 

“Any time.”

Weeks passed and slowly but surely Haknyeon got back to training, Kevin closely monitoring practice because he was not about to let him put too much strain on his muscles early on. 

The first weeks remained crucial in the healing process and if they made the mistake of going back to what they considered normal it could permanently ruin the muscle tissue. Kevin wouldn’t let that happen to one of his best men. 

Haknyeon truly was extremely professional for someone of his age. From the moment he rolled into their training program he had put every last bit of energy and then some into it. 

His dedication came as a pleasant surprise to both Kevin and Juyeon. Kevin had been happy he had someone else similar to Juyeon, someone who he knew could execute even the most difficult missions. 

Juyeon on the other hand was thrilled to have someone with such drive and passion under his wing. He had been quick to learn that once Haknyeon put his mind to it he could master anything, he was a true all-rounder. 

Which was also why he really struggled with not overexerting himself once he was back in training. Frustrated by his own incapabilities he had yelled at Kevin to ‘leave him the fuck alone’. 

Kevin hadn’t protested and left just like that. He knew the anger was only directed at him because he was the easy target in the situation. Besides, the younger would come around and apologize soon enough.

Proven right, Haknyeon was in his office not 10 minutes later, “I shouldn’t have blown up at you. You’re only trying to help.” 

“It’s fine as long as you know that,” Kevin reassured him, holding his arms out for a hug which was happily accepted.

Together they left to get back to practice, the elder promising to function as a punchbag just today. Haknyeon denied the offer with a chuckle, “I wouldn’t want to break my boss in half.” 

Kevin snorted loudly before ruffling his hair, “I would like to see you try.” 

That same night Kevin was at Flower Snack. It was the best place to blow off some steam, some time to himself being exactly what he needed. 

Chanhee eyed him from across the counter as he served his usual late-night drink, whiskey on the rocks. 

“Something on your mind?” He asked, hands already occupied with preparing drinks for other patrons. 

Grinning Kevin gulped down half of his drink, the familiar burn of the alcohol as it ran down his throat causing him to scrunch his nose ever so slightly. 

“Nothing much. Could really use a break though.” A soft chuckle accompanied the vague response. 

Chanhee nodded in understand while coming to a standstill in front of the other, “Don’t we all?” He mused, seemingly distracted by his own thoughts. 

“Probably.” 

His glass was refilled the second he put the emptied glass down on the counter. A mutter along the lines of ‘on the house’ falling from Chanhee’s lips. 

Sitting in silence Kevin felt like he was contemplating his life choices. It reminded him of why he never drank alone, someone had to save him from the depths of his own mind. 

Tonight that someone turned out to be the café owner. He asked him about his day, what kind of work he did, if he had any other friends aside from Juyeon, what he liked to do when he was not working or at the café. 

The small-talk felt good, he was not forced to answer questions he didn’t like and he could end it at any given moment. But Kevin continued talking because Chanhee was easy to talk to. 

As time passed and Kevin downed glass after glass of whiskey he could keep the alcohol start to set in. Resting his head on the counter he groaned, “Fuck, now I have to ask Juyeon if he can come to get me. I drank way too much.” 

Chanhee chuckled from somewhere on the other side of the counter, “Should have thought about that before you finished all those drinks.” 

“In my defense, you kept refilling before I could even ask for more. Isn’t that kind of irresponsible of you?” Acting like he was offended by the other, “I could have become very violent for all you know.” 

Shaking his head at Kevin’s antics Chanhee held up the bottle once more, pouring more whiskey into the empty glass, “You don’t seem like the violent type. I like to think I know which people get violent or annoying after too much alcohol with all my experience owning a place like this.” 

Kevin pursed his lips, overthinking his next reply so as to not reveal his entire identity, “You’d be surprised really.” He smirked, eyebrow raising slightly as if to challenge the owner to ask about his implications. 

“No thanks. I will continue to believe in your innocence.” 

Chuckling Kevin shot a text to Juyeon, telling him to come to get him soon. He still had a job to do and he wanted to get home somewhat on time as far as that was possible right now. 

“Well, Chanhee, now that you know about me, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” He asked with feigned annoyance, “ A bit unfair of you to keep secrets, no?”

Said man turned to him from where he had been serving a bunch of other clients, “You see, Kevin, unlike you I am actually working.”

“So? You’ve been talking the entire time, asking all these questions. Seems to me that you can answer them yourself as well.” Looking around Kevin noticed it was still relatively empty thus no excuse for Chanhee to avoid him. 

The other nodded slowly, “What do you want to know?” 

“Who are your friends? What are some of your hobbies? Favorite movies? Do you believe in astrology? I can keep going but you might want to answer these questions first.” Kevin teased with a bright smile. 

And answer Chanhee did. Kevin learned he didn’t really like hanging out with people, contrary to what people thought of him seeing his profession as a café owner. No, Chanhee was quite reserved and liked to just go home and read a book after work. 

Chanhee was also interested in fashion, according to himself he owned thousands of dollars’ worth of clothing and a fortune of accessories. It had had his interest from a young age, experimenting with different styles over the years, though never sticking to one as there was always something else that caught his attention. 

He wasn’t a big movie enthusiast much to Kevin’s disappointment. “I prefer to just watch some show you can switch off whenever you want, don’t have to commit for hours like with a movie.” 

Personally, Kevin considered this bullshit and he told him as much, “Series is a much bigger commitment. You literally have continuous episodes and new seasons keep being aired. How is that not committing?” 

“I might not actually finish most of these series.” Chanhee admitted sheepishly as he ran his hand through his hair, then proceeding to restyle his hair another five times before being satisfied with the way it looked. 

Slowly nodding Kevin let the conversation go. 

Shortly after they engaged in a discussion about astrology, Kevin had asked about it after all. He himself believed most of it to be utter bullshit, surely someone’s zodiac sign didn’t give away that much of their personality, nor could it influence the people you hung out with. 

Chanhee on the other found there was definitely truth in some of it. He calmly explained to Kevin why you needed a natal chart to fully understand someone, apparently, these charts which combined the positions of all the stars at the moment one was born, could explain someone’s behavior. 

Still hesitant about the whole concept Kevin felt himself start to agree on some points, in a way it made sense that the stars could define your personality. Another part of him found all of it was a little bit too floaty to his liking, though that could be the whiskey talking. 

He enjoyed discussions, they opened his eyes to new perspectives, occasionally getting him to the point where he completely changed his stance on a matter if one was very convincing. 

Chanhee was good company. 

He had to come here more often with Juyeon, see if they could hang out with the owner outside of the café as well if they clicked too. 

What he didn’t notice was the dark-haired man continuously looking at them from the other side of the bar, hidden in the shadows casted over the place by the low lights. It seemed like Chanhee hadn’t taken notice of him either, only going over once to serve him before forgetting he was there to begin with. 

Approximately 20 minutes later Juyeon entered the café, the bell at the door chiming as he swung it open, cold air filtering into the heated place. 

Kevin waved at him happily, “Juyeonie!” 

Chuckling as he realized how far gone his friend was Juyeon walked over, greeting Chanhee who apologized for letting Kevin drink too much, “He seemed to handle it very well until he suddenly started swaying in his seat.” 

“Yeah, he tends to do that sometimes.” Juyeon affirmed while looping an arm around the other’s waist, “Let’s get you home and into bed buddy.” 

Annoyed his fun time with Chanhee got interrupted he tried to push Juyeon off, “Don’t want to go yet.” Mumbling more under his breath that neither of them could string together into words that actually made sense. 

Helping Juyeon Chanhee held the door open, shivering at the strong cold wind shaking him out of his own slumber, “Get home safe!” 

“Will do, goodnight Chanhee.”

The door fell shut and Juyeon urged Kevin to get on his back, “I parked a few blocks down the street so you could get some fresh air before you ruin the car’s interior.” 

“I can handle my alcohol, thank you very much.” The other protested, nevertheless climbing on and getting comfortable as he buried his face in his shoulder. A soft mutter minutes later breaking the silence that had fallen over them. 

“You smell nice.”

Juyeon chuckled in disbelief, “Kev, this is literally the perfume you gifted me years ago.” Something about the soft compliment making him blush ever so slightly. He really was a sucker for compliments and Kevin always used it against him. 

“That’s why, you idiot,” Kevin chuckled, inhaling the scent once more, “I wouldn’t have bought it if I didn’t like the smell. Not when we spend so much time together.” 

“Fair enough.” Admittedly, Kevin did definitely have a point there, even drunk he somehow managed to win the friendly arguments. Juyeon put him down next to the car, motioning for him to get in as he opened the door. 

Once Kevin was seated he walked around the car, getting in himself. Double-checking if Kevin’s seatbelt was secured he smiled, the other was already out cold, head lolling from side to side against the headrest. He really had too much to drink if he was like this. 

Quickly driving to Kevin’s place Juyeon dropped him off. Suppressing the need to go inside with him and make sure he was actually in bed before leaving but he guessed that wouldn’t be appreciated. Kevin always arguing that it didn’t matter whether he was only tipsy or piss drunk, he was still an adult and he could take care of himself. 

Saying a last goodbye and urging him to text him when he was in bed Juyeon went home. He loved Kevin a great deal and he would do a lot of things for him but driving around at night after Kevin got drunk without a warning beforehand wasn’t something he enjoyed. 

He knew Kevin, knew he could defend himself in case any stupid people decided to play tricks, and yet he wished the other would let him know before going drinking. Just so he knew where he could find him instead of being called late at night or ass o’clock in the morning if he could ‘pretty please’ come pick him up from one club or another. 

Regardless Juyeon did it every time, only trusting himself, Hyunjae, and Jacob to pick Kevin up. He was the first-choice so it was nearly always him driving, but if needed to he could always ask one of the other two to get him. 

Closing the door to his bedroom he dropped onto the mattress after quickly changing into sweatpants and an old shirt that had become his pajamas over time. 

A text from Kevin was the last thing he saw before falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was it for this week's chapter!  
> This was kind of written in a hurry so if some things don't make as much sense I am sorry and will try to fix that later. 
> 
> Come yell at me on twitter @jumilsbish  
> I tend to tweet about updates of fics as well so yeah that's that
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated, they really motivate me to continue writing this story because I know someone out there is waiting for the update.
> 
> See you next week,  
> Sending love <3


	4. Dates & Data

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> introducing new characters yay
> 
> hope you enjoy!

Rummaging through his closet Kevin pulled a sweater from the pile. If he paired with a new pair of black jeans, a couple of rings, and earrings it, would look decent enough. 

He had decided on meeting up with Chanhee today. They had been texting each other a lot the past few weeks and when the other asked him to go see a movie, he happily agreed. 

Seemed like he had somehow managed to convince Chanhee that movies weren’t too big of a commitment. He looked forward to the meeting, as Kevin liked having a friend who wasn’t aware of his double life. 

Originally Juyeon was supposed to come along as well but something had come up thus leaving Kevin to go and see Chanhee on his own. 

The drive to the cinema was nothing new, traffic was light and he was well on time. As he went to retrieve their tickets from the ticket booth someone called out to him. 

“Kevin, over here!” 

Turning to the source of the sound he spotted Chanhee, beckoning him over. Kevin noticed that he already held the tickets in his hand, meaning he must’ve gotten here even earlier. 

“Hey, Chanhee,” He smiled as he hugged the other, letting his hand linger on his waist for a second, which he noticed with a halt was _very_ thin. It was the first time he saw Chanhee in anything other than his work clothes and Kevin was not complaining. 

The blonde had a great fashion sense, just like he had claimed the other day, the pieces of fabric sculpting his body oh so beautifully. “You look great.” 

“Such flattery.” 

“I am serious though,” Kevin chuckled lightly, “Shall we?” He pointed in the general direction of the room screening the movie. 

“We can’t.” 

“Why not?” 

With a big smile plastered on his face, Chanhee turned to the popcorn stand, “Food first,” the glint in his eyes as he spoke causing Kevin to laugh loudly. 

“Yes, sir.” Pretending to stand at attention like he was in the army with his hand touching his black locks. The blonde swatted at his arm before tugging him along to the stand. Quickly grabbing a big bucket of popcorn and two drinks they were off to see the screening. 

They had agreed to let Chanhee pick the movie, thus ending up watching a romcom. Kevin had teased him by saying he didn’t take him for the type to like those movies which caused the other to look at him with wide eyes, faking offense. Muttering an, “I like cute things,” under his breath Chanhee gave Kevin a shove. 

The black-haired man noted it was something he did whenever he was even slightly embarrassed and he found it to be quite endearing. With a big smile he led him to the room, sitting down in the back, away from others’ eyes. 

Frankly speaking, the movie wasn’t that great. Seemingly Chanhee felt the same way, judging by the way he continued to lean further into Kevin, head on his shoulder. 

Wondering only for a second if he was always this clingy with friends Kevin shook it off, he was probably reading into the action way more than he should. As he returned his attention to the screen a hand came to rest on his. 

They continued to watch in silence. Kevin purposefully ignoring every single one of Chanhee’s touches, hoping it would send off a sign. 

Once the movie ended and they were out of the cinema, they decided on having lunch at the neighboring restaurant. Chanhee apparently used to frequent the place back when his own café didn’t require him to be present all the time. 

This also meant he already had his choice ready before Kevin even looked at the menu. As he skimmed over the various dishes Kevin could feel his eyes on him. With it, a seed of discomfort was already firmly planted in his chest. 

Shortly after ordering their meals were served. Kevin digging in the second the waiter had left their table. Glancing up at Chanhee he saw the other still kept his eyes on him. 

He tried to ignore it. Nevertheless, he couldn’t push down the constricting feeling continuously growing in his chest. The last time he felt that was because of Jacob rejecting him two years ago. 

Suddenly he couldn’t breathe, the discomfort blossoming into full flowers that filled up his lungs. 

Gasping, he tried to catch his breath, missing the way Chanhee rose from his seat with panic in his eyes. 

“Kevin? Are you okay?” 

He couldn’t answer. Breath stuck in his throat, feeling as though he was choking. 

“Kevin, do you hear me?”

The same hand that had caused him discomfort at the cinema in the first place grabbed a hold of his again, squeezing in a vain attempt to get Kevin to focus on him. 

Shaking all over, Kevin forced himself to breathe in, the air suddenly filling his lungs sending him into a coughing fit. He counted to 10, controlling his breathing by breathing every two numbers and felt his throat slowly opening up again. 

Clearly startled and not knowing what to do, the blonde looked at him, hands flailing as he kept his eyes on Kevin’s face. When he reached out to touch his cheek Kevin pulled away with the speed of light as if the other’s hand would burn him. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“What do you want from me?” 

Voice too loud in his own ears, panic continued to wash over him as Kevin grabbed his head. Forcing himself up from his seat he locked eyes with Chanhee, able to see the pain swirling in the dark orbs. It was a pain he was all too familiar with. 

“I don’t want anything from you.” 

Chanhee was lying, he knew it. He was fumbling with his jewelry, not looking Kevin in the eye anymore. The air turned palpable as he tried to string his words together into coherent sentences. 

“You’re lying. This isn’t just a friendly thing to you, is it? We are not on a date. You are a friend and nothing more than that. If you want me to be more that I can't be for you, just say it.” 

Kevin could hear his own voice trembling. He hated the fact he couldn’t control himself even when he was trying so hard to cover the fear and disgust creeping up his throat. 

A sigh pulled him out of his own brain, eyes flitting over Chanhee’s face in search for anything that would give him away. The eyes that looked back at him were dark, any previous light or twinkle having died out. 

“And? It’s not like you have somebody else.” 

Gulping, Kevin closed his eyes; he couldn’t let it get to him, not when he had to find out what Chanhee’s motives were. A façade was usually easy to put on and yet right this moment, it didn’t work. 

“I won’t have a change of heart just because he doesn’t return my feelings.” 

Voice cold like during missions, the only part of his façade that he managed to uphold. 

“You can still try.” 

“Do you think I haven’t tried?” 

“Try again.”

Chanhee was challenging him, trying his hardest to get him to react. Not budging in the slightest now that he regained his composure Kevin shook his head, “You need to back off and you know that.” 

“Think of everything you could have with me.” 

It was pathetic. He really poured his everything into convincing someone who already made up his mind. 

“No. If you still want me and Juyeon as your friends, you need to stop right now,” his patience was wearing thin and he made sure to show the clearest of hints this conversation would end as soon as he got his answer. 

Chanhee stared at him, eyes narrowing before he spoke again, “Fine,” he said, barely audible over the murmurs of people around them who were watching everything going down. 

“I need to go.” 

Storming out of the building not two minutes later Kevin speed-dialed Juyeon, hoping he would answer and tell him his location. 

About to shove his phone back into his pocket he heard the dial tone end, Juyeon’s soft voice sounding in his ear. “What’s up?” 

“Chanhee thought we were on a date.” 

“You weren’t?” It’s a genuine question. 

“No. I am not interested in him, or anyone else for that matter.” Kevin sniped down the expected follow-up question immediately. 

Juyeon chuckled, “If you say so, mister Moon. Well, then I would like to inform you that we need you at HQ.” 

The addition had Kevin on high-alert but before he could ask what the situation was the call had ended already. 

“Guess I am heading to HQ then,” he mumbled to himself, starting the engine of his car and pulling out of the parking lot. 

A man approached him. 

With a start Chanhee realized it was a customer he had seen a couple of the times over the past month. Greeting him with a nod he smiled in anticipation of what his next action would be. 

“I overheard your conversation and wanted to I am sorry for you. Maybe we can go for a drink elsewhere?” 

Instead of answering Chanhee regarded the man with a frown. Customers wanting to spend time with him were rare and especially now he felt it was a bit unusual. Then again, the entire situation he had found himself in just now was unusual so this didn’t change from that pattern. 

“Sure.” 

As they went to leave Chanhee realized neither Kevin nor him had paid for the food yet. Excusing himself he walked over to the counter, quickly making the transaction so he could leave the restaurant with the stranger. 

It was only then that it hit him, he didn’t even know the other’s name, he actually knew nothing about him except for the fact that he was a regular at his own bar. He had to change that soon. Looking over to the door, he found the man staring at him with a bright smile. 

Chanhee had to admit the stranger had a beautiful smile, one that made you want to smile as well. 

Once the payment was made he crossed the small restaurant, finding his way back to the man who was patiently waiting for him, “I don’t even know your name.” a chuckle spilling out along with the comment. 

“You’re right. Where are my manners?” The stranger laughed softly, “My name is Changmin,” he offered his hand to Chanhee who gladly shook it. 

“I’m Chanhee.”

With a loud thud, the weight dropped to the floor, Sangyeon panting as he stretched out his muscles. 

Next to him, his boyfriend wrapped up his set of weighted squats, “We should do these workouts together all the time,” downing half of his water bottle in between, he then picked the weight back up to do his next set. 

Sangyeon hummed, “We have to find a fixed time if that’s what you want. Though you already spend so much time at the gym that shouldn’t be too big of a problem.” 

“Maybe if you weren’t out of the house all the time,” Jacob said teasingly, breath coming out in puffs as he continued squatting. His eyes shone with a familiar glint, telling the older their workout session would probably end soon. 

Not wanting to leave before having gone through his entire program he went to do pull-ups. Frankly speaking, he knew Jacob was right. Since his promotion there had been numerous instances where he ended up working overtime, going home hours later than his colleagues.

Even when he did get to go home early, he was cooped up in the workroom Jacob had arranged for him until the early hours of the morning. With his sleep schedule, their relationship had also taken a few hits. It wasn’t intentional but Jacob had blown up at him for staying up so late multiple times already.

The fact that this had been happening at least once a week since the month they moved in together concerned him, especially when Jacob was not one to get angry in the first place, much less blow up. Sangyeon recognized the failure was on his end, they should have been spending those hours together doing fun things instead of him constantly working. 

Rearranging his work hours was going to be a bitch but nonetheless, it was something he was going to do within the next week. Their anniversary was coming up and he most definitely wanted to be around Jacob and surprise him properly this year. He deserved it. 

In between the repetitions of his second set Sangyeon noticed Jacob was looking at him intently. 

“What’s the frown for, big man?” he questioned with a smirk, “Is the exercise too difficult now that you’re old?” 

Scoffing he dropped down from the rack, catching his breath as he raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jacob hated it when he didn’t answer his questions and bounced one back at him. Today was no exception. 

“Yes.” An annoyed tilt to his voice, though that was mostly to blame on the fact they had just finished one of their more intense workout session. 

Sangyeon chuckled, his eyes turning into crescent moons as he grabbed hold of the younger’s waist, “If you must know, I was just thinking about moving my hours around so I can be home more often,” pressing a kiss to his nose as he took in the doubting look on Jacob’s face. 

“Home as in workroom or home as in spending time with me?” 

He was squinting at him and Sangyeon found it to be adorable, unable to hold back the laughter that caused the other to scrunch his nose in feigned frustration. “Of course, with you, silly,” he mused before softly connecting their lips. 

Jacob melted into the kiss, hands coming up to wrap around his neck as he leaned heavily on Sangyeon, making him stumble backward to prevent them from falling over. “Good.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat next to them broke their trance, Sangyeon sheepishly smiling at the man standing near the rack he had been using for his exercises until five minutes ago. Jacob regained his composure and bowed apologetically before tugging the older with him in the direction of the dressing rooms. 

Thrown off by the route Changmin took Chanhee looked at him, distrust evident on his face, “I thought you said we would go drink something.”  
“We are, sweetheart.” Chanhee’s eyes widened at the nickname, his brain making up thousands of possible scenarios of how this could go. He was sure the addition that followed was supposed to calm him down but it wasn’t exactly working. “I just thought taking you to my place would be nice. We can talk in private there.”

Thoughts of being abducted mixed with so many others Chanhee couldn’t possibly keep track of them all. Instead of staying quiet and figuring out an appropriate response to convey his opinion he chose to blurt out, “are you taking advantage of me?”

“Oh please,” Changmin laughed, head falling back momentarily with the force of his laughter, “Chanhee-ssi, I am a married man, I get enough satisfaction from him.” 

Huffing, Chanhee turned away from the other but as he gazed outside he couldn’t withhold the laugh bubbling in his chest from escaping. “Sticking to ‘I am a married man’ would have been answer enough.” 

“I know. I just felt like adding that.” The obvious smile in his voice took away the last of Chanhee’s worries. 

When Changmin pulled into a big driveway leading up to a big mansion a gasp escaped the other, “Is this where you live?” 

“I said I’d take you to my house, didn’t I?” 

Still in shock at the display of wealth Chanhee stayed seated long after its owner had already gotten out. Only when said man knocked on the window he made an effort to get out and follow him inside the house. 

After walking through the door his jaw was on the floor. Everywhere he looked there were big paintings, expensive high-end vases, and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The hallway alone was enough to take his breath away. 

A male voice sounded through a door on the left side of the hallway. “Min-ah?” 

Changmin called out in return, Chanhee assumed the voice to be that of his husband. He was proven right when a tall, handsome man came strolling through the big doors and gave the other a chaste kiss before turning to him. 

“I haven’t met you before.” 

It may have been a statement but Chanhee recognized the question hidden in the remark. 

“Hello, I’m Chanhee.” 

A blinding smile made the man seem a lot younger, “Nice to meet you, Chanhee. I’m Younghoon.” 

Making small-talk, they enter the living room. Chanhee once being again stunned with the wealth of the couple, displayed through expensive furniture and other attributes adorning the marble walls and floors. He told them as much which led Younghoon to pat his shoulder, “No need to flatter us, dear.” 

“I wasn’t trying to.” Chanhee deadpanned while sitting down on the couch and sinking into the several fluffy pillows covering the piece of furniture. 

One look at Changmin and he knew he was here for more than just a drink. 

A couple of minutes later all three of them were seated and Changmin was looking at Chanhee in a way that was making him itch. He seemed to want to ask something but was holding back. After some back and forth chatter, Chanhee couldn’t stop himself. 

“Why did you ask me to come here?” 

“Because I saw what happened with that guy. I thought having a drink would cheer you up.” Changmin mused, side-eyeing his husband who was following Chanhee’s every movement. 

A little confused Chanhee blinked, “We are strangers though. Do you always sympathize with random people like that?” 

This caused Younghoon to chuckle, “Admittedly, he has some weird habits but it’s always from wanting to do a good deed.” Hand resting on his husband’s shoulder, he squeezed softly. 

“I guess you’re not a stranger to me, Chanhee. In case you don’t recognize me, I have sort of become a regular at your café,” Changmin added after rolling his eyes at Younghoon’s antics. 

Humming Chanhee nodded slowly, “I did recognize you. It’s just a bit unnatural for me to hang out with people I don’t know. Regardless, I appreciate it.”

“So who was this guy and what happened?” 

Changmin hurried to explain the situation to Younghoon, in the process vaguely motioning with his hands, occasionally turning to Chanhee to make sure he didn’t forget anything. 

“Ahh, sorry to hear that.” Younghoon said softly once his husband stilled next to him, “What’s his name? I might know him from somewhere, he seemed familiar by your description.” 

“Kevin, his last name was Moon I believe.” 

A moment of silence fell as the older man dug through his mind. Changmin regarded his husband with an expectant look until the proverbial lightbulb in Younghoon’s head lit up. 

“I remember meeting his years ago, he seemed like a nice guy. What’s he like nowadays?” 

Chanhee started telling them about Kevin, happy he had someone with whom he could share his troubles. He had only had Juyeon and Kevin for that the past year but now he couldn’t exactly go and vent to them about his crush on Kevin. 

Hours went by as the conversation switched to other topics, talking about work, what they did before work, how the couple met one another years ago. It was nice and chill. 

Serious topics were mostly avoided, Changmin trying his hardest to lift their new friend’s spirits. By the time Chanhee said goodbye and Changmin drove him back to the cinema so he could pick up his car, they had made a deal to meet up every Monday. 

On Chanhee’s end he was just happy to be meeting more people and creating a bigger circle around himself. On the couple’s end, they were both helping Chanhee out with dealing with his rejection and doing themselves a favor. 

Upon his arrival at HQ, Kevin rushed to his office, finding Juyeon and Hyunjae already there waiting for him. 

“So what’s this urgent situation you told me about?” Kevin asked, he figured beating around the bush wouldn’t get them anywhere. 

Juyeon handed him a file, freshly printed judging by the lingering warmth on the pieces of paper. “Remember that hit list you gave Sunwoo and me a while ago? One of them apologized for leaking information so Hyunjae looked into that.” 

“Turns out he spoke to multiple informants of several other gangs because he thought that would get him out of trouble with us.” 

Rolling his eyes, Kevin let himself drop back onto the couch. “I am guessing that means he shared confidential information and not some irrelevant shit we can forget about?” 

“As much as I hate to say this, yes, that’s right,” Hyunjae muttered under his breath, pointing at the file in Kevin’s hands. “All the information he shared is on there. We tracked the informants down, Sunwoo is taking care of that right now and Juyeon will join him shortly.” 

“I knew I should have ended that man the second he couldn’t give us anything anymore. Why did I let him live? This is just great.” 

The sarcasm couldn’t lift the heavy atmosphere in the room. Both Juyeon and Hyunjae stayed silent as Kevin took in the damage done. 

“He really gave them everything huh? From our names to the address of the hideout we made him come to. Fucker,” pinching the bridge of his nose Kevin squeezed his eyes shut, “Juyeon, you can go to Sunwoo. Hyunjae, I need you to help me figure out the best way to go about this and find out how much information has already reached their leaders.”

Juyeon nodded curtly, slipping out of the room immediately, phone already tracking Sunwoo down to get to him as soon as possible. 

As Hyunjae ran through the intel he had already gathered to even know about the leaked data in the first place, Kevin was breaking his brain over what the possible outcomes of the leak could be. One thing was certain, they had a huge problem and right that second the only way out he saw was tracking down every single person who knew and get rid of them. 

Yes, he knew this was a very extreme solution but decisions had to be made and if this was the safest solution then so be it. 

“He was the sixth one to be killed by Sunwoo and Juyeon, meaning that was over a month ago. He told Juyeon he only spoke to the informants days prior to that.”

“Which means they’ve had, in the worst-case scenario, more than enough time already to get the intel delivered to their respective bosses who in turn will have informed the leaders.” Kevin finished the thought, leaving Hyunjae to nod. 

“So what do we do? Killing them all means dozens of bodies, dozens of missing people cases that will cause a stir throughout the country. We can’t afford that and you know it.” 

This was going to be a long night and even the prospect of spending all those hours cooped up working on this unexpected, and definitely more than a little damaging, case made Kevin want to give up right then and there. 

“Let’s come up with other solutions then, genius.”

“Yes, sir.” 

Holding the gun against the man’s head, Sunwoo growled into his ear. “You will now tell me who accessed the intel you garnered last month if you don’t want to bleed out.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.”

“Like hell you do!” 

“Just kill me already, I don’t have the information you want.” 

Sunwoo pressed the gun harder into his temple. “You have intel on us. You either tell me who knows about this while I am asking nicely or I will punch the confession out of you,” Patience running out at the stubborn attitude of a man sentenced to death. 

“I am not giving you names. I will die before I do.” 

The rustling of clothing grabbed Sunwoo’s attention, looking back, he saw it was Juyeon who had finally come to join him. As the older walked up to them the man in front of him seemed to cave. Sunwoo had to give it to him, the other’s reputation was not one to disregard. 

“Still nothing?” Juyeon questioned, eyeing the man who was now shaking, “Don’t you know better?” 

“I only relayed the intel. I was told to meet him, gather intel, pay him, and leave. It’s been over a month how should I know the exact contents of all of that?” 

“We are not asking you what data was leaked, we are asking who knows of the leaked data,” the younger stated. He felt his companion’s hand on his shoulder and knew he had to step back. Withdrawing the gun from where it left an imprint on the man’s head he stood in silence while waiting for Juyeon’s next move. 

He didn’t have to wait long. 

Seconds after Sunwoo had stepped back for enough to give Juyeon a clear view of the man he was lunging forward, fist connecting with ribs in a dull thud. The repeated pain-inflicting action must have broken his resolve because suddenly names were spilling from his lips. 

“That wasn’t too difficult, was it?” Juyeon smirked, the same hand that had been punching to break bones grabbing hold of his jaw so as to force him to look up into the taller man’s eyes, “You will now repeat those names and help us out or I will actually break your bones.”

Standing to the side the younger had to keep himself from making a snarky remark, apparently holding a gun to his head wasn’t scary enough but punching him where it could cause internal bleeding turned him into a begging mess. He pulled out the voice-recorder and handed it to Juyeon, his undivided attention on the man who was steadily summing up names. 

It was funny to Sunwoo how he was ratting out his entire gang just like that, probably far from realizing the value of the simple names. A couple of familiar names resounded in the dark alleyway, causing the younger to make mental notes so he could have Hyunjae run a background check on them as soon as possible. They were all names of people they had encountered before in one way or another and just maybe it might be vital information. 

“Just one last name, buddy. Who is your leader?” 

Trembling, the man breathed out a name, inaudible to Sunwoo, who prompted the older to repeat it. 

He ignored him, instead speaking to the man in front of him, “It was nice working with you, though there will be no further collaborations.” He beckoned Sunwoo over, the younger taking his cue and pulling the trigger. 

As the body dropped to the ground he looked at Juyeon again, “What was the name?”

Juyeon grimaced, “Kim Younghoon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and i oop-
> 
> i am on twitter @jumilsbish so come yell at me there 
> 
> also would appreciate kudos or a comment!


	5. Hit & Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this update is late and i would apologize, but like everyone else, i have more to do than just write so..
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy this chapter!

As soon as he entered the building Jacob felt the tense atmosphere weigh down on him. Everyone who passed by him nodded stiffly in acknowledgment of his presence prior to continuing whatever task Kevin had given them. 

It was understandable, he himself was on edge too ever since his husband had informed him they were going through with their plans. The other day he had received a call from Juyeon, the younger begging him to talk to Kevin and convince him this had to wait. Promising he would try, he sat down with him not a day later. 

Kevin was clear when he answered him. “We are going through with this whether you like it or not. We have to.” 

He should have expected it, his husband was stubborn and once he had his mind set on something there was no way he would let go, but even then Jacob had hoped he could talk some sense into him.

Besides, he was aware of the situation. With the data leak, it wasn’t just their hits getting messed up, all of their futures were at risk too now that their names were out there. If they didn’t react quickly enough their issues would only continue to grow. 

In Juyeon’s office, he found both the younger and his best friend, Hyunjae in the midst of explaining why they needed everyone skilled enough to put up a decent fight for this particular hit. 

“Now that they are likely to have been made aware of our plans they’ll be prepared to defend. You need every man willing to come along or you’re dead meat, Juyeonie.” He exclaimed, hands flying over the keyboard and pulling up several files to prove his point. 

The youngest sighed deeply, hands in his blue locks in utter frustration, “I know, but that doesn’t mean I am happy to call everyone in and send them to their death,” Making eye contact with Jacob he forced a small smile, “Hey, hyung.” 

“Hey.”

He sat down across from them after Hyunjae turned the screen so he could see as well. As he took in the intel that had been released, he realized just how bad the damage was, Kevin hadn’t been joking when he said it was all out there for their enemies to pick up. 

“Cobie?” The tone of his best friend’s voice telling him he was not going to like what came next, “We will need you on the mission.” 

His hands formed fists at his sides, hidden away from their view by the desk, “Why?” 

“You know the terrain, if anyone can help us get out of there unharmed it’s you.”

Looking up, he found two pairs of eyes on him, both clearly expecting him to give in like that. And if he was being honest, he nearly did right then and there, but there was something holding him back. His gut feeling supplying the helpful information that he would risk his life by taking part in the hit. 

Simultaneously, deep down he knew they were right. This was supposed to be their biggest hit in months, months of planning had already gone into it and if they gave up now just because some asshole had leaked intel it would all be for nothing. They couldn’t let that happen. 

“Give me until tonight, you will get your answer then, promise.”

Juyeon nodded happily, the smile that returned on his face would suggest the older had already agreed to come along if one didn’t hear his actual answer. Maybe he had seen the initial spark in Jacob’s eyes, the spark that had given him away plenty of times when he tried to hide his true feelings about a dilemma presented to him. It was scary how well Juyeon could read him given the fact they weren’t even that close. 

He wanted to join them and make himself useful instead of sitting back at HQ and waiting for a call about the injured, possibly dead, and whether the mission was a success or not. Regardless, Jacob hated the inevitable violence that came with taking part, he would have to fight for his life and kill if he wanted to complete the hit without getting seriously injured himself. 

“I am going to see how Haknyeon is doing.” 

“Alright, I will see you later today.” His best friend smiled at him before turning to the younger man next to him and continuing their discussion of the plan. 

Entering the basement, he found Kevin and Haknyeon sparring. Both of them were too enveloped in their match to notice him standing to the side of the ring. Only when Kevin stepped back to take a breather his eyes flitted over to the older. 

“Hey,” his long black hair matted to his forehead from the intense practice, “how are you?”

The youngest waved at him with a slight smile, choosing to sit down at a small distance from them to rest up while they talked. Thankful, Jacob sat down with his husband, giving him time to gulp down some water. 

“Is there really no other solution than me participating?” He wondered out loud, which caused Kevin to tense up next to him. A silence fell in the small space between them as the younger fumbled with the words inside his head. 

Sighing he put his hand on Jacob’s where it rested on his leg, “I wish I could tell you I knew one, but I can’t,” the sincerity in his voice clear as the light of day, “I promised you a way out and I am pulling you right back in.”

“It’s fine.” 

“It’s not, Jake, not when you have Sangyeon-hyung waiting for you at home.” 

The older smiled, “Kev, he’ll be fine, if you need me I am here.” 

“And I am forever grateful for that.” 

Jacob went to place a hand on his back in an attempt to show the younger his support but withdrew his hand the second it hit his sweat-soaked tank top. 

“Yeah, I’m gross, no need to tell me,” Chuckling at the flash of disgust flashing over the other’s face Kevin got up, “We’ll wrap up our session and come upstairs to finish planning.” 

“I will gather everyone so we can get it done as soon as possible,” Jacob smiled at his husband, who was already bothering Haknyeon to give this last round his all because he wouldn’t spare him. It was a bit ironic, especially when you knew Haknyeon definitely wasn’t the lesser one of the two in a physical fight, though Kevin possessed a lot more strength than expected of someone with his physique. 

Once Kevin and Haknyeon entered the meeting room, the latter was pulled onto the seat next to their youngest, Sunwoo. As he fired questions at the other about his condition Juyeon regarded them, reminded of the conversation they’d had the other day. He really was fussing a little too much for someone who was just a friend. 

“Let’s get the planning done, shall we?” 

Their undivided attention now on their leader, the plan thus far decided on was critically reviewed, Jacob pointing out some flaws only someone with inside information could notice. Kevin couldn’t help but smile, his husband hadn’t lost his touch even when he hadn’t been out with them on missions for well over a year now. Part of him wondered briefly what it would be like if they led together but deep down he knew that would never be the case. 

The further planning proceeded smoothly with every man making mental notes about details important to him and his task specifically. By the time they were discussing the last points of attention the tense air had vanished, instead, a familiar comfortability and sense of confidence taking over them. Trust was the vital aspect of their lives and it was moments like this where Jacob was reminded just how much trust he used to put in them years prior and would do so again next week. 

If he could trust anyone with his life, it was this group of men. They’d had his back all these years and he would be crazy to think there were other people out there who would care for his life as much as them. 

Except for Sangyeon perhaps. 

Smiling he slung his arms around the men standing next to him, which happened to be Hyunjae and Sunwoo, “We got this.” 

It was the change from _you_ to _we_. 

Jacob providing his answer to the question that had been plaguing him for a couple of days now, hidden in encouragement, a belief he voiced every time any of his friends went out for a hit. 

“We do.” Kevin mused, giving him a smile accompanied by a stiff nod to acknowledge he saw it hurt the older to take the huge risk that came with participating. He was the only one to notice, the other guys cheering and muttering utterances about how they were sure to succeed with his help. 

_Please let everything turn out well_

“Back clear.”

“Front clear.”

The static of the line going silent resounded in his ears but his focus was elsewhere. They were lined up outside, Sunwoo abandoning his spot on the rooftop in favor of joining them on the ground where he was of more use. 

Jacob was tense, an uneasy knot forming in his stomach as he waited for Hyunjae’s voice to break the silence. Juyeon’s movement shook him out of his trance, the younger pointing towards a window on one of the upper floors, eyes asking him if he could see inside. 

Mouthing ‘no’ he himself shifted to try and get a better view but to no avail. They needed to go inside, it was risky when they couldn’t 100% predict what they would encounter there but at least Hyunjae hacking the cameras bought them some extra time.

“Move.” 

The command sending him over the terrain to the open door, voices alarmed him, hand raised to motion for Juyeon to take the lead from here. As the younger came to a halt in front of him and they were pressed against the wall his heart was racing, something akin to fear trying to take over his senses. 

He couldn’t let that happen, he needed to focus. 

Juyeon tapped his shoulder, “now.” 

Before the men inside of the room they just stepped into could register their presence, Sunwoo already had a gun pressed against the temple of the man closest to him, the other stilling at the knife insistently pressed on his throat by Juyeon. 

Inhaling, Jacob steadied himself. He had this. Just follow the plan and you’ll be fine. 

The muted gunshot pulled him out of his own head, eyes snapping to Sunwoo just in time to see him toss the dead body to the side like it weighed nothing. Juyeon on the other hand pried information out of the guy before slicing his throat with practiced precision. 

“There are about 20 men in the entire building, I want Sunwoo and Haknyeon to find the soft drugs first, contact us when you find them. Jacob, you’re with me, we’re finding the hard drugs. Everyone else, search the building and take out whoever you cross paths with.” 

Moments later it’s just him and Juyeon in the room. Blinking up at the younger he let out a huff, “You’ve gotten better at this.” He admitted, a smug smile playing on his lips. 

Juyeon chuckled, “Let’s talk after we get out. We can’t get distracted.” 

“Alright.” The older man lifted his gun, motioning towards the door through which the others had disappeared shortly before. He received a nod and together they moved out in the general direction of the stairs. 

Now taking the lead, Jacob made his way up the stairs, body pressed against the wall, he turned the corner, gun aimed to shoot anyone who appeared in his line of fire. He felt the younger’s back touching him, guarding him as he walked further down the hallway. 

Somewhere on their left, there had to be another hallway, one that would lead them to the main area of this floor. According to the blueprints Juyeon stole from the other warehouse that was where they stored the hard drugs. 

Eyes scanning his surroundings, Jacob tapped the other on his shoulder to signal him which way to go. The younger hummed to let him know he understood then proceeded to push him towards the hallway. 

He put his foot forward, careful not to make any noise that would tip off possibly present enemies. Every little creaking sound from the old floorboards was making him cringe internally as he continued walking. They stood in front of the main area in silence, nothing indicating the presence of people behind the closed door. 

“3, 2, 1.” 

Kicking the door open, Jacob stumbled inside with Juyeon next to him, both covering one side of the enormous stockroom. Upon hearing the younger shout, “Clear!” he responded with the same, making his way over to meet at the center. There, they discussed the plan, until Haknyeon and Sunwoo called in they would wait. It was too big a risk to set a higher floor on fire with the others still inside the building when they didn’t know how quickly the floors would collapse. 

As they waited the elder felt the knot in his stomach grow tighter, he tried to ignore it once more but part of him knew better. Usually when this uneasy feeling found its way into his body something ended up taking a turn for the worse. Jacob prayed to God his gut was wrong. 

“Hyung?” Sunwoo’s voice sounded hushed, “We found it but we need to be careful. There are too many men here, once we set fire we need to run, you will have to make your move first or you’ll get caught.” The revelation caused Juyeon to curse softly, squeezing his eyes shut in annoyance. 

“You stay where you are, we will distract them by making the alarm go off on this floor. Once you hear the alarm get to work, I expect to see you within 15 minutes from the alarm, understood?” 

A hum, “Roger that.”

“Get to work, hyung.” The younger urged, motioning towards the far end of the stockroom. Complying Jacob walked back to the spot he stood minutes prior, now with two gasoline-filled jerrycans. They had been brought in by some of their men who had searched the rest of the building. 

Nose scrunched up at the smell, he carefully poured the liquid over the cocaine worth millions of dollars. Once the fire started there wouldn’t be much left of the power and the stuff that didn’t burn would be ruined. So much for making money off drugs. 

After emptying out both jerrycans he threw them on top of the stored packages containing the white powder. The lighter in his pocket felt like it was already burning through his skin. He grabbed hold of it, experimentally making it light up twice, “Are you done?” he called out to the other. 

The answer was affirmative and that was all he needed before setting fire to the gasoline adorning the cocaine. He quickly stepped back, returning to meet Juyeon in the middle once more. Said man smiled at him, “Let’s get that alarming ringing.”

With Juyeon’s knife breaking the glass to the alarm it only took seconds for a loud siren to resound through the building. Together they sprinted away from the main area, the heat already radiating from the room was nowhere near as bad as the smoke filtering out through the door. The smell reminding Jacob why he had such deep-rooted hate for anything drug-related. 

Stopping at the top of the stairs the faint sound of voices shouting could be heard, “Let’s hope for the best,” was all he managed before following Juyeon in the direction of their only way out. Soon enough they realized they were most definitely outnumbered, their only hope being that meant Sunwoo and Haknyeon were now left alone. The younger smiled at him slyly, “Together.”

Jacob nodded, making use of the visible confusion that had given them cover until now to aim and fire, taking out multiple men within seconds. A finger pointed in their direction signaling him the fun was over, he stood next to Juyeon, planning on staying on higher ground as long as possible. 

The first men reaching them were only armed with their fists, Juyeon swiftly stabbing a knife between one’s ribs, then turning and slicing the other’s throat. Stunned by the ease with which the younger took lives, Jacob was momentarily distracted. Without him realizing it was already too late to reload his gun. 

As he shoved it back into the holster he had to dodge a knife aiming for his heart. Overcoming his initial surprise he bodily threw the other into the wall, fist connecting with his chin seconds later. His free hand went to grab hold of his own knife, pulling it out and repeating the motion he had seen from his companion earlier. The blood splattering on his face disgusted him but there was no time to sulk when another man was already lunching for his throat. 

Using the off-guarded moment to his advantage, Jacob swung his arm, effectively seating his knife deep within the flesh and muscle of his stomach. The blood gushing out made bile rise but he couldn’t let it get to him, they had to get out first. 

“Watch your back!” _Juyeon was warning him._

The older man spun on his heels just in time to catch sight of the man approaching him. What he didn’t notice until the last second was the knife going for his side. Cool metal coming into contact with the skin on the inside of his arm, the sting making him hiss loudly. Before he could respond Juyeon had already killed the man. 

Suddenly they were all alone. The fight that had only lasted minutes feeling like hours had passed. 

“Let’s find the others.”

“You’re hurt.”

“That can wait, I want to get out of here first.” Jacob waved off the younger’s protest, simultaneously not paying attention to the blood trickling down his arm in a steady, heavy flow. He was definitely losing too much blood but they had medics for that, right? 

Murmuring something under his breath, Juyeon walked down the hallway. The older followed silently while continuing to look back every couple of seconds to make sure they didn’t miss anyone approaching with the siren still going off. 

Outside, they found the majority of their men had gathered already, most of them unharmed, others with small cuts and bruises. Only Sunwoo, Haknyeon, and two others were still missing. Jacob prayed they were not being held up by more of the rivaling gang’s members. 

It seemed his prayers were heard because a mere four minutes later both men come walking out of the door with a wide grin on their faces, “Getting high would’ve been really easy, you know,” the youngest joked, earning himself a smack on the back of his head from their leader. 

“Very fu-” Juyeon stopped in his tracks as he saw the oldest swaying, hand lifting to his head, “Hyung, are you okay?” deep down he already knew the wound on his arm was worse than he initially thought. 

“Everybody back to HQ, we will discuss the mission there after Jacob gets his treatment.”

Arm holding Jacob up as they stumbled to their medic’s office, Juyeon told Haknyeon he should let Kevin know to get the meeting started without him. On their way Hyunjae came out of his office, “Why didn’t you treat the wound there? He will bleed out like this!” anger clearly directed at the younger. 

He was ignored, his only option grabbing hold of his best friend’s waist and helping him along. Luckily, the knife turned out not to have hit any major arteries, though the amount of time the wound had been bleeding was enough to make Jacob feel more than just a little dizzy. 

Something neither Jacob nor Juyeon had noticed, was that the blade had torn through his shirt, consequently breaking open the skin stretching over his ribcage. However, that cut was bleeding nowhere near as much as his arm, the adrenaline having numbed the pain right until the moment the wound was being cleaned to prevent infections. 

After being bandaged up and taking painkillers he was advised to go home. Juyeon agreed immediately, sending Hyunjae off along with him to make sure he would get home safe. The blonde chuckled as he dragged his friend to their car, quickly driving home. 

Jacob was happy to find Sangyeon had yet to come home. 

It meant they had time to have dinner and then treat his wounds again to try and keep it from his lover for a little while longer. He knew he shouldn’t be thinking like that, he was supposed to trust him but now was not the time for that. 

They ate in silence, Hyunjae knowing better than to disturb the other when he was clearly already stressed out about the possibility of having to tell the love of his life about all of this. He pushed Jacob towards the stairs, “I will be there shortly, just going to do the dishes real quick.”

His friend smiled gratefully, making his way up the stairs to his bedroom. The painkillers were already working, effectively reducing the pain to nothing more than an annoying burning feeling in his arm. He sat down on the mattress and tried taking off his shirt. 

Arm getting stuck, Jacob called out to the blonde for help, “Hyunnie?” 

“On my way!” 

Soon enough his friend walked into the room, both the lotions and medicine their doctor had given them in hand. He helped him with his shirt, throwing it aside and tending to his wounds. Cooped up in properly redressing the wound, both of them missed the sound of the door opening, Sangyeon dropping his briefcase in shock. 

Within seconds he was at his side, “Baby, what happened?”

Jacob blinked at him, words stuck in his throat. His best friend was stunned into silence as well, waiting for him to speak up. 

“Y-You were not meant to see this, you are not supposed to be home yet.” He rambled, seeing the worry on his lover’s face make place for anger. 

“You are wounded, Jacob Bae, and you were not going to tell me?”

“It’s just a small cut from a knife. Nothing to worry about.” 

This only angered Sangyeon more, “You got into a fight, ended up with wounds and you couldn’t even call me to let me know what happened? Who do you think you are?”

Jacob knew he was right, mouth opening and closing but no words came out. 

“I am not doing this,” the older muttered, “If you don’t answer me right now I am leaving. I don’t want to live with a liar, someone who is keeping secrets from me.” 

“I can explain, babe, please, don’t leave!” He fell to his knees, hands clutching the fabric of his dress pants. Except he couldn’t continue talking, the tears choking him up and keeping him from explaining the situation. 

His fingers were pried loose. 

“Look at you. You say you’ll explain and yet you don’t say a word.” There was venom in Sangyeon’s voice. He stepped away from the younger, grabbing his briefcase and stalking out the door before letting it slam shut behind him. 

Hyunjae eyed him quickly, then running out of the room to catch up to Sangyeon. The older was already at the door, car keys in hand. 

“Hyung, wait!” 

He rolled his eyes at the blonde, “What, Hyunjae?”

“Give him a chance, please. He is trying.”

“Not hard enough. He can’t even talk to me, Hyunjae.” 

The younger sighed, pushing down his own anger, “You would struggle too if it was you in his situation.”

“What do you know that I don’t?” Sangyeon sounded tired. Honestly, Hyunjae couldn’t blame him, he just found his lover wounded and not because he told him but because he came home earlier than expected. 

“That is not my place to tell you, just listen to him, please.”

“If he wanted me to know he would have spoken up when I gave him the chance. Spoiler alert, he didn’t.”

_Hurt._

Hurt was the only way to describe how Sangyeon felt at that moment. 

But he was not the only one in pain and Hyunjae was done with his bullshit. He understood the older, he really did, however, his best friend was upstairs in just as much, if not more, pain. It caused him to momentarily lose his calm. Before he realized what he was doing, his arm raised and his palm came into contact with the older’s cheek. 

“Shut up.” 

Sangyeon was gaping at him, silence covering them like a blanket until it didn’t. “You are crazy. Both of you.” 

It stung. The younger looked at him, pain flashing in his eyes as he spoke, “Because you don’t understand us. You have no right to judge us when you don’t know what we have been through.”

Defeated, Sangyeon dropped everything in his hands, “One chance,” and the younger knew he meant it. 

Jacob looked up when he heard footsteps on the stairs, listening closely he could distinguish his lover’s. The two entered the room, Hyunjae blocking the door to prevent the older from running out again. Said man sat down across from him, not making eye contact, “Explain, Jacob.” 

Thrown off by the cold tone of voice, it took Jacob some time to progress past that.

“Okay, so… remember how we told you we own this house thanks to my dad’s money? Well, there is no subtle way to say this, he is a mob boss. I am the son of a mob boss. I was raised to take over the lead from him, but I couldn’t because I found you.”

The older looked at him, silently telling him to continue. 

“I loved you and I didn’t want to pull you into that life because I was scared of losing you. So my dad appointed Kevin as his successor,” For now it would be better not to mention they were fake-married, “Kevin has done nothing but support me to live happily with you. He allowed me to step away from all mob-related activities.” 

“So then why are you wounded?” Sangyeon questioned, obviously overwhelmed and confused by the amount of information. 

“I had to participate in a mission. There was a data leak recently and I had inside information from years ago. I got wounded when Juyeon and I had to fight our way back out.”

The air was heavy, Jacob trying to gauge his lover’s reaction but failing in the attempt because his face was void of any emotion. Suffocating in the silence he reached out, wanting to hold his hands. The older pulled away as if his touch burned, “Don’t.”

Hyunjae cleared his throat, “Was that explanation enough for you?” it was clear he was agitated with his best friend’s lover’s behavior. 

“Yes, but I need some time alone.” He went for the door, the door Hyunjae had stepped away from moments prior. The younger grabbed his arm, yanking him back to make him face his lover. “You are not leaving, hyung.” 

“You can’t stop me.”

“Your _boyfriend_ is wounded. He needs you here.”

Sangyeon raised his head, eyes meeting with Jacob’s, he saw the pain. The clear hurt displayed all over his face because of _his_ reaction, made him fall silent. Only now did he realize that he wasn’t the victim here. Sure, he was hurt, but Jacob probably had good reasons to keep it from him until now. 

Even if he couldn’t understand at this moment, he knew that eventually when time passed and they discussed it, somehow they would figure it out, together. 

“I will stay, but we need to talk about this. No more secrets between us, baby.” 

Jacob nodded, “I promise, no more secrets.” 

Relief washed over the younger. Sangyeon wasn’t walking out and leaving him behind. His biggest fear, losing the other because of his lifestyle, had been irrational. 

Well, not exactly irrational seeing he had bailed out once, nearly twice, in the process of finding out about Jacob being the son of a mob boss. He was happy Hyunjae was there with them. Without his best friend, he would have lost Sangyeon a long time ago. 

He extended his arms, silently asking his boyfriend for a hug. For a second, he thought he would leave him hanging, actually taking a step back in their relationship. 

Sangyeon didn’t. 

He swept him up in his arms, careful to avoid touching the wounds while embracing his lover. Suddenly it was like a dam had broken, the older crying into his shoulder, tears landing on Jacob his bare skin. Taken aback, Jacob delicately placed his arms on his lower back, hands slipping under his dress shirt and rubbing the warm skin in a comforting manner. 

“I love you so much.” 

“I love you too, baby, so so much.”

“I am sorry for not telling you I was going on a risky job.”

“I am just glad you made it back alive. What would I have done without you?” 

Jacob felt the tears welling in his eyes. Maybe to him the mission hadn’t been a big deal and he had known Sangyeon would be alright while he was out there, his lover didn’t have any of that. He didn’t know where Jacob was, how big of a risk he was taking, he didn’t know there was the possibility he wouldn’t see his boyfriend again when he left the house that morning.

“I am sorry.” 

His voice breaking as he, too, let his tears flow, a wet patch on the older’s shirt growing at an alarming rate. 

The sound of a door softly shutting caught the younger’s attention. It was then that he realized that right until that moment his best friend had been there with them in the room. A nagging voice in the back of his head telling him he wouldn’t live this down any time soon. Hyunjae had warned him before letting Sangyeon move in and yet he had ignored his advice. 

He should listen to his friend more often. He might not know everything but he sure as hell was aware of the risks of their lifestyle as much as Jacob was and he should trust him. 

It would take time, but somewhere down the line, the three would be back to living in harmony, fully trusting the other two with their everything. Until then, Jacob would try his hardest to open up to his lover and tell him about his and Hyunjae’s work to show him that he would keep his promise to him. 

_No more secrets._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i will take this chance to say i probably won't upload this sunday but the sunday after that
> 
> as always, kudos and comments are appreciated
> 
> find me on twitter @jumilsbish i tend to post snippets and updates on how the chapter is coming along over there
> 
> see ya!


	6. Emotions & Emergencies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i have returned, this chapter took a while because 1) i had a lot of other things going on 2) she just wasn’t coming along like i wanted her to 
> 
> i hope you enjoy regardless!

Sitting at the bar Kevin kept his eyes on his glass. Chanhee was trying to include him in his conversation with the blue-haired man next to him but he ignored it. He had come along because Juyeon asked him to act like an adult and was now deeply regretting that. 

Especially now that he brought up the topic of dating. 

“So, are you seeing anyone, Juyeon?” 

Kevin eyed his friend, secretly very much interested if there was anyone he didn’t know about. The other seemed to notice him looking, briefly meeting his eyes before averting his gaze. _Was he blushing?_

A cough, “It’s complicated? I do fancy him, I just don’t know if he sees me the same way.” 

“What are you going to do about that?” 

Awaiting the answer, Chanhee poured himself a drink. Kevin glanced sideways, some sort of discomfort still lingered in his chest around the other. He hated the feeling, wanted to leave what happened between them behind and move on in the same manner the other had managed to do. 

He didn’t know how. 

“Nothing.” 

“You should at least ask him out.” 

Kevin scoffed and rolled his eyes, “Like you did with me?” he was surprised by the amount of bite in his own voice. It sounded so resentful and yet he wouldn’t bother to apologize, not when his anger was justified. 

The question was passed by. Juyeon grabbed hold of his hand under the table, reassuring him quietly, “I might ask him out in the future, both of our lives are a bit crazy at the moment.” 

“If you say so.” He spotted the pink-haired rolling his eyes as he walked away to take someone’s order. 

Taking the moment to themselves, Kevin tugged on the other’s arm, “Who is this man? Have I met him?” his eyes shining with mirth when he saw his friend flushing bright red, “Come on, just tell me his name.” 

“Hyunjae.”

Hadn’t he been listening so intently, he would have missed the whisper. “Our Hyunjae? Hyunjae-living-with-Jacob Hyunjae?”

Juyeon nodded slowly, his eyes lifting to meet those of the man next to him, “Is that a bad thing?” 

“A bad thing? Are you crazy, Ju? This is amazing!” Hands shaking his friend in utter happiness. The beaming smile he got in return was worth so much. Juyeon deserved nothing but the best and if anyone could give him that it was Hyunjae. If his suspicions were correct, the feelings were definitely mutual. 

“Thanks, Kev.”

Said man squeezed his shoulder lightly, hand soothing the hard muscle underneath, “Talk to him, yeah? We don’t know what might happen within the next weeks, better be safe than sorry.” 

Nodding, Juyeon placed his hand over the other’s and smiled softly. Chanhee chose that moment to come back over to them. His eyes landed on Kevin, seemingly wanting to say something but deciding against it. 

“Spit it out.” 

The pink-haired man looked at him in shock, blinking as his mouth opened and closed again. It took him a minute before he spoke, “I was just thinking about what someone could have over you.” 

Kevin raised an eyebrow in a motion for him to continue talking. 

“You know, the one you love who has someone else. What could that other person possibly have that makes them better than you? He must be stupid if he doesn’t see that you are obviously the best choice. Jacob should be able to recognize that too.” 

Clenching his fists, the other leaned over the counter, “Keep his name out of your mouth. You know nothing about him or his partner and I will keep it that way.” His voice had dropped so only Juyeon and Chanhee heard him. 

“Pathetic.” 

Kevin was furious. 

No matter what was or wasn’t between him and Jacob, Chanhee had no right to speak about the older and Sangyeon in such a disrespectful manner. Before he registered his own movements he had gotten up, the chair falling over, hand grabbing Chanhee’s collar. 

“Shut. Up.” 

He seemed taken aback at Kevin’s sudden aggression, yet he made no effort to start apologizing. There was barely any response at all as he recovered from his initial shock and it only served as fuel for his anger. 

Juyeon noticed and tapped his shoulder, “Kev, I think we should go,” the soft voice cutting through the thoughts clouding his mind. Reluctantly, Kevin let go of the other’s blouse and stepped back. His eyes were on Chanhee the entire time he walked over to the door, with one last warning he stepped outside. 

“Next time you mention Jacob or Sangyeon I won’t hold myself back.” 

The threat lingered in the stuffy café long after Kevin and Juyeon had stepped outside. 

However, to Chanhee it didn’t matter. Not when Kevin had let the name of Jacob’s lover slip. The name was all he had wanted to find out since talking to Changmin and Younghoon multiple weeks ago. 

_“How can you even afford a house like this?” Chanhee asked, obviously confused. The older man laughed at him and smiled, “Having a well-paid job,” causing his husband to elbow him in embarrassment._

_“Don’t say that,” His hand covering his partner’s mouth before smiling sheepishly at Chanhee, “he likes to brag but it’s not really a job worth bragging about.”_

_This irked something within the pink-haired man. Of course he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, having voiced his thoughts without realizing it, only noticing when Younghoon chuckled lowly. “Are you sure you want to know?”_

_“It can’t be that bad of a job,” Chanhee reasoned, curiosity growing as he leaned forward in his seat as if that would get him his desired answer sooner. On the sofa across from him, Changmin tensed up ever so slightly prior to sinking back into the fluffy pillows with narrowed eyes._

_His husband put his hand on his thigh, massaging the flesh slowly to reassure him he knew what he was doing. “Well, stated in the most simple way possible, I lead a gang.”_

_Chanhee looked him in the eye, there was not even the smallest hint of twinkle, a sign of a joke. Glancing sideways at Changmin he saw the other regarding him with the same intensity and he knew then and there that it was not something he had made up._

_“How did that happen?”_

_“Family,” Younghoon said, “only child and all that. Though I must say, the lifestyle is not too bad and it does a lot more than just pay the bills.” The ease with which he spoke about being part of the underground circuit and its crimes nearly convinced Chanhee that it might not be as shabby as he had always considered it to be._

_Hands clasped together, he let his thoughts run wild, all sorts of visions of what gang life entailed appearing on his mind. He heard Younghoon call out to him and blinked, returning to reality._

_“What are you thinking, Chanhee?”_

_Making eye contact he smiled softly, “I don’t know, just wondering what your lives are like, if it’s really as ‘good’ as you claim. All I ever hear about are the countless people killed by gang violence,” Chanhee could see the other holding back a chuckle and wondered if his comment was one they heard often._

_The taller man got up, stepped around the table in the center of the room and squatted down in front of Chanhee. Surprised, he blinked at him once again, waiting for whatever he was going to do or say next._

_“We could show you, teach you some things, help you get back at whoever is the reason Kevin rejected you.”_

_One thing was for sure, he hadn’t been expecting that. If anything, Chanhee felt like he was being set up, like they were letting him in on their work as a means to use him as a pawn. The offer to help him out was tempting. A nagging voice told him to not do this, to be an adult and accept Kevin’s rejection, but his desire to get what he wanted was stronger._

_He nodded slowly, “Let’s do it,” the smile spreading on Younghoon’s face making him believe he made the right choice. Said man’s husband piped up across the room, happily clapping his hands and letting out a shriek._

_It caused the pink-haired man to chuckle, the excitement radiating off of the grown men in front of him surprising him. He felt happy. He had made friends and they were willing to help him out with his problems, all the sorrow he felt hours prior was long forgotten, overtaken by the newfound energy and plans they had formed._

_“We just need a name and then we can get to work, so if you could provide that within the next week we’ll get to work as soon as possible.”_

And now Chanhee had a name. Sangyeon. 

Surely, there couldn’t be too many people named Sangyeon around their age, living in these neighborhoods. Feeling giddy he shot Changmin a text message with the name and estimated age. He knew that with their sources they’d have a profile soon enough, the husbands had shown him quite a few of their tricks and processes in under three weeks. 

As soon as the text message popped up, Changmin called in Hyunjoon, “I am going to need you to find everybody named Sangyeon who lives in the city. Focus on the people who could somehow be linked to Jacob Bae, you know, the son who stepped away from all activities.” 

“On it, should be able to give you an overview in a couple of hours,” the younger said, noting down the details, “Anything Eric can do for now?” 

Changmin shook his head, “Let him help you, I will call him when I have new intel or we can proceed with the game plan,” motioning for him to get to his office and get the job done. Hyunjoon bowed and walked out at that. 

In their shared office, he knocked on Eric’s desk, waking up the young man roughly. Startling into action, Eric shot him an angry glare that looked more like he was pouting than the intended warning. Hyunjoon laughed at him, eyes glinting as he handed his dazed friend the information, “Hyung wants a profile within the next hours so get to it.”

“Yes, sir.”

With their various databases bringing up all possible candidates, it only took them a couple of hours to narrow them down to a small number of people. More thorough research on those men leaving only one option. 

_Lee Sangyeon._

The necessary digging later, they managed to build a decent profile, quickly realizing the man in question was just a regular man, no criminal records, no nothing, just a man with a good education now working his ass off. 

Frankly speaking, Eric thought it was boring, how could someone with such a mundane life be interesting to them in the sense that they had to get involved with their life. A connection to the Jacob Bae was not enough in his eyes, Bae hadn’t been active in years so he saw no logic in looking into his supposed partner. 

“Why are we looking into him again?” He wondered out loud, Hyunjoon snorting as he finished the file to get it to Changmin. 

“Because we were asked to.” 

“Boring.” 

Avoiding a smack on the back of his head, Eric pushed his chair backward, coming to a stop the second the wheels bumped into the bookcase behind him. He smirked at the other who just rolled his eyes before stepping out of the room. 

_Ping._ A new message. Chanhee would be lying if he said he hadn’t been waiting for the message all day. Opening his chat with Changmin he smiled to himself, it seemed like their plan was coming along just fine.

As he read the profile Changmin’s men had whipped up, he remembered having met someone with the same name back in middle school. What were the chances it was that Sangyeon? Taking in the information his hunches were proved to be correct, they went to the same middle school and now that he looked at the picture again, the face was definitely familiar. 

He realized that even then the two of them had never actually gotten along. Cruel as it sounds, it made the whole thing so much easier. Kevin would regret his choices soon enough. 

“Hyung?”

Hyunjae hummed, signaling the younger he could come in. Hesitant, Juyeon entered the room, softly closing the door and lingering there. Upon realizing the younger was acting differently Hyunjae got up, padding across the room until he was facing him. 

“What’s up,” He started quietly, “you’re acting weird, Juyeonie.”

Embarrassed by the nickname Juyeon turned his head to the side, avoiding all eye contact. The older chuckled, his voice light and airy when he spoke again, “You want to sit down and talk about it?” it was obvious he was trying to make him feel at ease. Nodding, Juyeon let himself be dragged over to the couch, sitting down with Hyunjae. 

The other moved to pull his hand away but Juyeon grabbed hold of his wrist, the plea in his eyes as they finally locked gazes caused Hyunjae to smile brightly. He left his hand resting on the younger’s thigh, “Hyung is listening.” 

“Where am I even supposed to start?” He mumbled softly, finding comfort in playing with the elder’s fingers, his hands were so small compared to his own. 

“Probably at the beginning.”

“Very helpful,” He retorted, though it did lift the heavy air that had settled over them, “I meant how do I tell you without weirding you out.”

Hyunjae brought his free hand up to touch his cheek, “There are very little things you can say that will weird me out and you for one should know that. Just tell me, alright? I will let you tell the entire story before reacting, I promise.”

“Okay… Well, I am sure you have noticed my behavior towards you shifting,” A nod, “it’s because I realized something a couple of months ago and I didn’t know how to cope with it except for behaving like an asshole,” the smile on the elder’s face reassuring him to keep going. 

He took a deep breath, “I like you, hyung.”

“I like me too.”

“No, I mean, I like you as more than a friend, I want to be with you, treat you right, give you everything you deserve.” 

“Silly, I know.”

“What do you mean you know? How did you-,”

He was cut off by Hyunjae leaning in, suddenly their faces were mere centimeters apart, “Can I?” 

“Do what?” His brain having trouble catching up with the situation, too overwhelmed.

“Kiss you.”

The simple statement made his cheeks burn in a pretty red, “Why would you do that?” he asked, earning a scoff from the older whose hand was back on his cheek, softly caressing the hot skin. 

“Because I like you too, baby,” the nickname slipping out without him realizing it until it was too late, “now let me kiss you, yeah?” 

Juyeon nodded eagerly, foregoing the nickname for his own sake. 

Their lips collided in a kiss, Hyunjae’s lips soft to the touch, his lip balm transferring onto the younger’s lips. His other hand still resting on the other’s thigh steadying him as he pressed Juyeon back into the pillows, hovering over him. 

The younger gasped audibly when he softly massaged his skin, allowing him to slip his tongue in, swallowing every small sound that threatened to spill out. Juyeon let him, his own hands intertwining behind the elder’s neck, keeping him close. There was something so intoxicating about the way their mouths slotted together that he didn’t want it to stop. 

When Hyunjae pulled back to breathe, the younger whined, chasing his mouth but held back by the arm resting on his shoulder. He looked at the other’s spit-slicked lips, tongue sliding over his own, tasting the vanilla lip balm that stained them. 

“Look at you, you’re not so bossy now. I like you better this way,” He teased, Juyeon groaning in embarrassment, a pout on his pretty lips. 

The older chuckled, “So pretty and just for me to see.”

“Hyung,” he groaned, once again cut off as Hyunjae leaned back in and pecked his lips before slipping out of reach. 

“Sangyeon and Jacob are out tonight, do you want to come over?”

Juyeon blinked at him, slightly dazed by the speed with which the situation had changed. The other looked back expectantly, a glimmer of fear to be rejected in his eyes even after they made out just moments earlier. 

“I’d love to.”

“That’s settled then, I’ll see you downstairs after work, yeah?” He was already back at his desk, the younger could see him fighting against the smug smile forming on his lips. He wondered how he could be so calm when he was buzzing inside, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

“Y-Yeah, after work.”

Bursting through the door he ran down the hallway, he needed to find Kevin. His office was empty, which meant he was either training in the basement or out of the building for other business. Juyeon really hoped it wasn’t the latter because he really wanted to talk to his best friend, he had to tell someone what happened. 

In the basement he found Kevin supervising Haknyeon and Sunwoo sparring, both of them out of breath as the older encouraged them to keep going. Haknyeon attacked, moving too swiftly for the youngest to defend himself, groaning as knuckles came into contact with ribs. It was known among them that Sunwoo was strong and if he had the upper hand in a fight he wouldn’t lose.

However, Haknyeon was quick, much quicker than Sunwoo and every single fight between was won by the older. Frustration was evident on his face as he regained his composure and took his turn attacking, it made him sloppy. In his need to attack and do damage, he left the way to his chest open, taking another blow before Kevin called out if was enough. 

Panting the two fell to the ground. Juyeon clapped slowly, “Well done!” his eyes on the youngest he smiled, “You really need to work on keeping your defense up when you attack, I’ve told you that plenty of times before. You can’t win a physical fight with sheer strength.”

“Rub it in, why not.”

He was agitated, he hated feeling inferior but also knew they were right. Kevin shushed him, “Hey, it’s fine, you don’t get in many confrontations without your gun so no worries. We will just keep practicing, yeah?” 

Huffing Sunwoo sat down at the side of the rink, Haknyeon sitting down opposite of him, clearly lost in his own head. 

“Did something happen to you?”

Juyeon turned to Kevin, wondering briefly if it was written on his face, then remembering that the other could read him like a book. Clearing his throat he chuckled, “You could say that,” eyes becoming crescents at the surprise on his friend’s face. 

“Come on, tell me!” He exclaimed, “Don’t leave me hanging now,” eyes never leaving Juyeon’s. smiling the taller whispered, “Remember how I told you about hyung?”

“What about him?”

“We kissed.”

“You what?!” Kevin jumped, “Are you kidding me?” 

“I talked to him like you told me to and suddenly he asked if he could kiss, said he liked me too.” 

Squealing, his best friend called for the attention of the younger pair, “Ju and Hyunjae kissed!” delighted at the blush rising on said man’s face at the exposure of his secret. 

“Gross,” Sunwoo said, fake gagging to prove his sentiment. Haknyeon in turn, let out a loud laugh, “How I have been waiting for this day.” This only resulting in the taller flushing a deeper red, “What do you even mean by that?” he choked out. 

“Oh please, he has been eyeing you for so long.” 

Kevin nodded enthusiastically, “Buddy, he practically jumped you earlier, the only explanation is he has been waiting for you to make a move. You tend to be oblivious to those things.”

“If all of you knew, why didn’t you just tell me?” He asked incredulously, frown on his face. 

“Because you had to figure out your own feelings.”

Juyeon pouted, eyes big as he looked at his best friend, “You could have at least given me a heads up.”

“Where’s the fun in that? Besides, you didn’t tell me anything until we talked to Chanhee so you can’t blame me for not interfering with a love life I am not aware of.”

Squeezing his shoulder comfortingly, Kevin stepped back into the rink while signaling the younger two to get ready for another round of practice. The taller started walking towards the door leading to the stairs when his name was called. 

“Go home early, Hyunjae can go as well if you come in early tomorrow,” A knowing smile adorning his sharp features and a hint of mischief shining in those piercing eyes. 

Juyeon chose to ignore the wink that was sent his way in favor of getting back to Hyunjae as soon as possible. It was tempting to run just like he had done when finding Kevin but he decided against it, not wanting to waste any more energy. 

Back on their floor, he softly knocked on the elder’s door before entering the room. Hyunjae looked up, he waited for the taller to speak knowing he must have had a reason to return so soon. 

“We have the rest of the day off.”

He frowned, confused that they would suddenly be allowed to leave with not even half of their usual workday having passed, “Why?” it came out harsh. His eyes were apologetic as he got up, rushing over to Juyeon, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, I am just confused Kevin would send us off at this time.”

“I might have told him we kissed… and then he told me to go home, so can we?” The question was genuine, hope shining in his eyes he regarded the older, patiently waiting for his response. 

Face breaking open into a wide smile, Hyunjae nodded, “We can, grab your stuff and I’ll be downstairs shortly.”

The younger gave him a blinding smile in return, he didn’t have to be told twice and dashed out of the office for the second time that day. 

They stepped into the house and were met with silence. Sangyeon was working and would only come home in a couple of hours to get changed before picking up Jacob from his job at the new university in the city. Jacob had started working there not too long ago after finally receiving his degree. 

Up until then, he had worked as a mechanic at a shop in the outskirts of Seoul. If it hadn’t been for that job, he and Sangyeon would have never met in the first place. Sure, Jacob had liked working there and he was glad to have met his soulmate through it, however, he had always wanted to teach. Now that he had the chance to actually do that, he was delighted and very dedicated to make sure he did well. 

Hyunjae toed off his shoes, making a beeline for the kitchen and retrieving drinks from the fridge. In the living room, he set them down on the small table while telling the younger to take a seat. Doing as told, Juyeon let himself fall back onto the couch but not before pulling the other down with him. 

A surprised yelp escaped the older, squirming in his strong grip, “Juyeon, let me go!”

“I just want a hug.”

“You could have asked for a hug instead, silly.”

Chuckling Juyeon gave him enough space to turn around in his embrace, arms on his waist preventing him from falling off of the couch. As Hyunjae made himself comfortable laying on top of the younger, he pressed soft kisses into the crook of his neck. He shivered at the feather-light touch, instinctively tightening the grip on the other’s hips. 

“Hyung…”

“Relax, baby.” 

A hand running up his side, fingertips cold against the warm skin of his own body, made him whine softly. Hyunjae smiled into his neck, fascinated by how pliant the younger was under his touch. It was such a stark contrast to all of their interactions in the last couple of months. 

“D’you want to watch a movie?” He asked softly, listening to Juyeon’s slightly heavier breathing he couldn’t help but tease. Letting his hand roam over the solid muscle of his stomach, slowly inching higher and higher. 

Juyeon stopped him. Hand on his wrist through the thin fabric of his shirt, “Sure,” mouth next to the elder’s ear, “you’re going to have to stop.”

Irking an eyebrow, Hyunjae looked at him innocently, “I wasn’t doing anything.” 

Momentarily stunned into silence at the blatant lie, the taller looked at him, deciding not to respond and instead fetch the remote control from the table to find a movie. His free hand hoisting the older up further so he couldn’t fall, fingers pressing through the fabric of his slacks into his sharp hipbone.  
“Any preferences?”

“You,” the teasing lilt and smug smile earning him a snicker from Juyeon, “though I think that’s not what you meant.”

“Don’t get all cocky with me now and answer the question,” Physically fighting the urge to kiss that stupid grin of his pretty face, “we can talk about those other preferences of yours later.”

Hyunjae gave in and they ended up watching Iron Man. To be honest, it was to be expected, the man’s love for the movies was immense. Sometimes the others would mock him for it but in Juyeon’s humble opinion it was more endearing than anything else. 

Watching the movie again, it was still spectacular, however, the younger got bored, he knew how it ended and would rather spend their time together in a different way. He let his hand drift down, placing it on the other’s ass lightly. Hyunjae shifted in his hold, the younger could see him tense up in anticipation even with his attention still on the screen. 

For minutes he kept his hand still, not moving an inch. The older had relaxed again, seemingly having forgotten his hand was there in the first place. Juyeon smiled to himself as a plan started forming in his head, his gut feeling telling him the blonde would appreciate it. 

Tentatively, he called his name, the other looking up at him questioningly. He chose that moment to squeeze harshly, Hyunjae’s breath hitching as he twisted the younger’s dress shirt in his hand. With a smirk, the younger captured his lips in a messy kiss. 

The blonde moaned into his mouth, Juyeon swallowing the sound as the elder’s legs encaged his waist, hands pressed to his chest in an attempt of the man to steady himself. “Baby,” lips latching onto his jaw, “I am watching a movie.”

Raising himself so he was sitting up on the younger’s lap, Hyunjae looked down on him, lips slightly swollen and shining with spit, “You need to be patient.”

With a quirk of his lips, Juyeon pushed his hands under the man’s shirt, hands hot on the soft skin underneath, “I thought you wanted this, hyung,” he mused, mirth in his eyes as he watched his reactions closely. 

Eyes closed, back arched, and mouth open at the nails raking down his sensitive skin and causing him to shiver. Soft sounds spilling from his lips at the sensation, Hyunjae felt his body temperature rise, arousal pooling in his gut. 

“Relax,” Using his own words from earlier against him, “let me make you feel good.” 

The blonde whined lowly when his hands were back on his ass, firmly massaging his cheeks and making him grind down on him. “Sound so pretty, hyung,” voice dropping as he switched their positions, now on top of the older. 

“Get to it.”

“Very demanding for someone at the mercy of someone else.” 

Wasting no time, Juyeon crashed their mouths together, licking into the other’s mouth with fervor. The moans bubbling in the elder’s chest, muffled by their locked lips were music to his ears and fuelled him to continue. He moved to his neck to suck marks into the pale skin, determined to please the man writhing underneath him. 

Hyunjae’s shirt was bunched up, a trail of soft kisses peppered down his chest until the younger reached his slacks and made quick work of taking them off. Palming at the bulge in his underwear, Juyeon almost sounded like he was asking an everyday question when he spoke again, “Can I suck you off?” almost. 

“God, yes, baby, you can.”

The younger pulled his underwear down, eliciting a hiss as the cold air hit Hyunjae’s hot body, while simultaneously shimming down the couch so he was level with his dick. Hands intertwined with his blue locks before he so much as wrapped his lips around the head. 

Gasping at the sudden warmth enveloping his cock, Hyunjae pulled on his hair, the sting making him moan, this in turn sending a shiver through the elder’s body. Patiently waiting for the younger to make his next move, he looked down at him, groaning at the sight of those pretty lips wrapped around his length. 

As he started bobbing his head, letting the hands in his hair push him down further with every move until he felt the tip touch the back of his throat. He swallowed, loving the broken moan that left the other’s mouth. Looking up he saw him looking back at him, the obvious pleasure on full display giving him the confidence to continue. 

Juyeon could hear the moans, whimpers, and cries of his name gradually grow louder every time he moved back down. Noticing the elder’s hands grew tighter in their grip and were reaching for control, he popped off. 

“Use me.”

Eyes half-lidded, brain trying to understand the implications of the short sentence, Hyunjae gaped at him, “Are you sure?”

A nod. 

“I need words, baby.”

Chuckling softly, Juyeon rasped, “Fuck my mouth, hyung.”

That was reassurance enough for him, guiding the younger back onto his cock. Pleasure rippled through his body when the man hummed to let him know he was good to go. Slowly, Hyunjae set a pace, giving him some more time to adjust before speeding up and properly fucking up into his mouth. 

Spit ran down Juyeon’s chin, trying his hardest to make the other feel good he kept on swirling his tongue, swallowing when his cock was deep down his throat. The sounds spilling from Hyunjae’s lips spurred him on, the continued praise going straight to his dick. 

“Baby, make me feel so good. Doing so well for me.”

His vision became blurry, tears threatening to fall as he endured the slight ache starting to form in his jaw at the rough treatment. He loved it. Hyunjae was falling apart because of him, it was his name the older called out, his mouth that gave him all this pleasure. 

He was his. 

A harsher tug on his hair was a warning, “Am close, baby, just a little more,” but he ignored it, hum the only acknowledgment of the state Hyunjae was in. Another harsh tug made him realize the blonde was trying to get him to pull off, Juyeon didn’t want to. He wanted him to come down his throat, taste more of him than the beads of precum he had been lapping up.

“Fuck.”

Hyunjae must have realized the meaning of his resistance, continuously muttering curses under his breath as he chased his orgasm. The tipping point drawing closer and closer, the younger moaned when he was held down, that’s what the coil snapped, spurts of cum landing in his mouth. Swallowing it down, the bitter taste lingering didn’t bother him. 

He pulled off with a pop, moving up to kiss the other right the second a phone started ringing somewhere. They ignored it at first, Juyeon still getting his intended kiss, but the phone rang again. And again. 

Scrambling to find his phone, Hyunjae pulled his pants back on before fishing his phone out of his coat that had been left on the floor of the hallway in his haste to get a drink. He answered the call, it was Jacob. 

“Have you heard anything from Sangyeon?” Concern lacing his voice, he sounded panicked. 

Hyunjae shook his head as he replied, “No, he hasn’t come home yet like you said he would.”

“Fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” 

“He should have been here half an hour ago, you know he is never late. I tried calling and he doesn’t answer nor has he been home like he was supposed to.”

“D’you think something happened at work?”

“He would have told me, he always does.”

“No one else called you the past hour, colleagues, hospital, anyone?”

“No, Hyunnie, that’s the problem. I thought of that but I have not received one single call today. What if something else happened?” The panic in his voice becoming clearer every second he didn’t get an answer about his lover’s whereabouts. 

“What do you mean something else?”

“What if they got him?”

“Who are they, love?”

“You know, the gang to which the intel was leaked, could they have possibly gotten data on him?”

Hyunjae frowned, if that was the case things were bad, but he saw the data with his own eyes, Sangyeon’s name was not there, “They can’t, babe, we checked, he wasn’t in there, they probably don’t even know he exists.”

“Can you track him down?”

“Jacob Bae, are you kidding me? I am not just tracking down his phone because you ask me to.”

“I am begging you, Hyunnie, I know something is wrong. Just this once, please, I need to know where he is,” The plea broke down his disapproval. Frankly speaking, he was started to get worried as well. It was unusual for Sangyeon to not answer calls, no matter how busy he was.

“I am on it, will call you back soon.”

Juyeon was looking at him with worry shining in those beautiful eyes, any previous haze of their escapades having washed away at the conversation he just overheard. 

Running upstairs, the older was quick to find the tracking device. He detested tracking down any of their friends but to be sure all of their phones had a chip, allowing him to follow them on missions in case of accidents. 

The same chip was installed on the phone Jacob gifted his lover two years ago. Kevin had insisted, the words _you never know_ earning him a strong protest, though the older ended up giving in after weighing the risks. Now, Hyunjae was thankful for that. 

Well, until he realized something was blocking the signal of the phone in question. The last time the chip had registered his location was at his office, which was over one and a half an hour ago. They were supposed to have at least four more locations from that hour alone, instead, they were left empty-handed. 

Hyunjae took a deep breath, “Call Kevin. We have a problem.”

“What do you mean we have a problem?”

“Sangyeon is gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... i may have gotten carried away by jujae but what’s new right? 
> 
> i will say that i am really trying to upload every week but my uni life has been catching up to me and i need to do well in that before i write
> 
> find me on twitter @jumilsbish i yell about tbz, update you on fics and post wips


	7. Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s been exactly 3 months since i updated this and i am equal parts sorry and happy about it, don’t ask
> 
> anyway, for those still reading, i really hope you enjoy this chapter  
> for those now finding the fic, i promise the other chapter will not take as long lol 
> 
> follow me on twitter @jumilsbish for updates on fics and all that 
> 
> enjoy!!

“What do you mean ‘Sangyeon is gone’?” 

Jacob rolled his eyes at Kevin. “Exactly what I said. He is gone.”

“He can’t just have gone missing, there must be something else,” Kevin reasoned, though it might have been more of an attempt to convince himself than to convince the rest of them. 

Hyunjae shook his head as he pulled up the data from the tracker. “He is gone, Kev. I know you never meant for it to be used but we tracked his phone and it has gone off the radar over two hours ago.” The numbers on the screen seemingly finally made Kevin believe it was true. 

“So what do we do?”

“We find him,” Juyeon deadpanned, “He has done nothing to deserve being involved in our dirty business. Wherever we he, we’re getting him back.” His eyes dark as he checked the locations in the data one last time. “I am taking Sunwoo with me to see if anything can be found on the scene, you should go through surveillance cameras.”

The sound of fingers pressing on keys is the only thing audible in the room for minutes after Juyeon and Sunwoo let the door fall shut behind them. Jacob’s eyes flitted over the screen, anxiously waiting for a glimpse of his boyfriend that could assure him he was fine. A hand took hold of his and he smiled softly when Kevin whispered, “It’s going to be okay.”

“I’m scared, Kev.”

“Sangyeon’s car,” Hyunjae muttered under his breath. And indeed, on the surveillance camera near the office he could be seen getting into his car, driving off not a minute later. “His tracker marked the location five minutes before he left, it’s the last we know.”

“See how far you can follow the license plate, there must be something within the first ten minutes or we would’ve had another location on the road,” Kevin said. Phone in hand to call Haknyeon in so they can head out as soon as they had knowledge of what caused the tracker to stop working. 

The screen switched from camera to camera, all showing minutes of footages of the busy streets, Sangyeon’s car still driving normally until suddenly it was nowhere to be seen. 

“Go back to that last one.”

Hyunjae rewound the tape. On screen they could see the car come to a halt at a traffic light and turn right, hidden from the camera by the trees. “We need tapes from the stores. There’s no other cameras of this street.” 

“On it.” With that Kevin was out of the door while dialling Haknyeon. 

Jacob sunk into the chair next to Hyunjae, head in his hands as he heaved a deep sigh. “This is nine minutes after he left, what could have happened in that one minute, Hyun?”

“I wish I knew,” Hyunjae whispered, “We have to wait until we get those other tapes and then we can come up with an action plan. If someone abducted him at that place there are witnesses, it’s too busy for nobody to have noticed, which means we’ll have descriptions of the people who took him.”

“I won’t have him back with that alone.”

“But you’ll be one step closer.”

“Not close enough.” 

Hyunjae stayed silent. There was so much he wanted to say but he knew nothing could comfort his best friend right now. He couldn’t blame him for that when he just found out his boyfriend had gone missing with no knowledge of who could possibly want to harm him. 

“Why him?”

A silence. “Because,” a pause, “this is how they get to you.”

_Pain._

His head felt like it was about to explode, his arms were tingling from the lack of blood flowing to his hands and his right leg stung with an unfamiliar throbbing pain. 

Opening his eyes slowly, Sangyeon tried to distinguish shapes but it was difficult in the dark room. The only light trickling into the room came from a small window that seemed to have been placed as more of an afterthought rather than being meant to be there from the start. 

Now it helped him to figure out the room bit by bit. In front of him was a door, by the looks of it a metal one, heavy to handle thus effectively locking him up in his weak state. Though, seeing the fact his hands were cuffed to a chain hanging from the ceiling, he wouldn’t have been able to get away even with no door blocking his way. 

Outside he could hear muffled voices, they approached before fading again. 

The rest of space seemed to be empty, not even something resembling a bed or chair occupying the room. His body felt heavy, wrists chafing against the cold metal and he briefly wondered how long it would take before blood would be running down his arms. 

It’s then that he looked down at his leg, instantaneously feeling nauseous at the knife buried deep within the muscle, probably having teared through it in the process. He felt dizzy, head spinning while supressing the need to throw up. His mouth was dry as he tried to swallow, _how long had it been since he drank something?_

Again, there was the sound of voices coming closer but this time they stopped in front of his door. Sangyeon straightened up, lifting his head to meet the eyes of whoever would enter the small space in mere moments. The door opened in what seems like slow motion, a tall man stepping through followed by a another, smaller man. 

“You’re awake.” 

It sounded like he was mocking him. The limited lighting made it hard to see their faces but even then he was sure he didn’t recognize either of the men. His eyes locked onto the two, he tried to speak, “W-why am I here?”

The smaller man chuckled, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Who are you?”

“So many questions,” The taller sighed as he stepped closer, hand grabbing hold of his jaw to make him look up. “You shouldn’t have gotten involved with us, dear.”

“It’s not like I chose to be here.”

“Does it matter? You’re here now and you’re not going anywhere.” 

The smaller of the two moved to stand behind him, meaning he lost sight of his actions. Mouth right next to his ear, he spoke again, “Your boyfriend is the reason you’re with us.”

Sangyeon froze, eyes flitting over the face of the man in front of him, taken aback by the cold eyes looking back at him while a smirk played in his lips. “Is he okay?”

“Aw, darling, you don’t need to worry about him. Worry about yourself instead.” 

“Why am I here?” His voice came out stronger this time around. The hold on his jaw tightened ever so slightly as a dangerous glint washed over the stranger’s face for a split-second before his head was pushed back. 

“That boyfriend of yours angered someone and he’s going to pay for that. Now, I am sure you can finish the train of thought and tell me why you’re here.”

“To hurt him.”

“Exactly.” The tall man let go of his jaw, stepping back until he was out of reach again. “So if you stay calm nothing will happen, if you don’t I can’t promise you anything regarding either of your lives.”

Sangyeon kept his mouth shut, any previous bravado gone at the threat. He didn’t know these men but he didn’t doubt they would be capable of actually killing people, not when he had seen the wounds Jacob carried after their last mission. Even if he wasn’t sure if it was the same group of people, he wasn’t stupid and could guess that every gang was capable of killing if deemed necessary. 

“Good boy. Now, if you’ll excuse us we have work to do.” A hand ran down his back, causing him to shiver at the unwelcome, fleeting touch. It stopped at the small of his back, fingers digging into the sensitive skin there. “No funny business while we’re gone, understood?”

Nodding, he kept his head up, not wanting to submit to them that easily. 

The tall man outright laughed then pulled the other from behind him to the door, both slipping out of the room. Seconds later he heard it being locked once more, left alone in the silence of the dark space with his own thoughts. 

His mind couldn’t seem to stop going back to Jacob. Was he safe? He remembered the time he walked in on Jacob wounded, when he told him he hadn’t wanted to pull the older into this mess. Back then he wondered how bad it really could have been, however, now that he was being held captive he suddenly realized this was exactly what his boyfriend had been scared of. 

_I am sorry, Jacob_

He succumbed to the throbbing headache easily, body exhausted because of a lack of nutrition it didn’t take long for him to fall into a slumber sleep. 

Jacob anxiously paced around Hyunjae’s office as he continued to scan through tapes. It was doing more than just working on the other’s nerves but he didn’t say anything because if he was being honest, he himself would have been walking around too if he didn’t have his laptop to at least try to find information. 

“It’s all my fault.”

“This is no one’s fault but the one who took him, Jacob.”

“No. I should not have told him about this, he should’ve never found out we do this on the side.”

“You sound ridiculous,” Hyunjae scoffed, “There is no guarantee he would have been here with us if you hadn’t told him. Hell, they could have taken you instead of him and what was I supposed to do then? Tell him his boyfriend is part of the underground circuit only after he has gone missing? No, Jacob, that’s not how things work.”

Jacob stood still in front of him, eyes burning holes into his face as he spit out his next words, “Sangyeon does not deserve being caught up in our business. He has never hurt anyone, goes to work every single fucking day to make a living, and takes care of me while he’s the one who needs it.”

“No one deserves to be abducted. In the circuit or not, no one deserves it. Or do you think Kevin, Juyeon, Sunwoo and Haknyeon deserve it? Do you wish it was one of them instead of Sangyeon just because they chose to be here?”

The tension in the room rose higher and higher until it was close to snapping. 

Hyunjae got up from his chair, facing his friend, best friend. “Tell me, do you wish it was me? Think I or the boys would come out better just because we have been dealing with killing for years? Say it.”

“Yes. I wish it was you, one of the boys or me, because we would know there are people looking for us, people that will get us out before it’s too late. Sangyeon doesn’t have that.” Tears were brimming in his eyes as he looked up at the taller, trying his hardest to will them away. 

“You really believe that, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Jacob,” Hyunjae grabbed hold of his face with both hands, lowering his face so they were eye to eye, “Sangyeon isn’t stupid. He will catch on and realize what’s going on and he for fucking sure will know that we are doing everything in our power to find him. He trusts you. He stayed because he trusts you and the rest of us. We are getting him out of there.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Can you stop being pessimistic for one second?” The younger snapped, “The boys are out in the field looking for hints and tapes that can help us, I am spitting through every second of footage we have. We always get the job done and we will this time around too.”

Jacob blinked at him, obviously wanting to say something but deciding against it at the sight of the warning glare. “Sorry… I just can’t help but think I caused this. He is my boyfriend, why else would someone go after him?”

“As much as I would like to answer that question, I don’t have an answer.”

“Very helpful.”

Chuckling lightly, Hyunjae hugged him close, “Apologies for the inconvenience.”

“It’s cool.”

They stood there in the middle of the room, silently expressing their guilt about yelling at one another over something neither of them had a real influence on. Hyunjae felt the other’s body sink into his own, let him lean on him as he cried softly, tears staining the material of his dress shirt. 

“Promise me you’ll bring him back?”

“I promise, Jakey, I promise.” His gut twisted as he pressed the words into Jacob’s scalp. They needed to move quickly and figure out who they were dealing with.

Sunwoo and Juyeon searched every inch of the parking lot for something that could lead them to Sangyeon but there was nothing. Defeated they returned to HQ, sadly shaking their heads at a hopeful Jacob who just hugged them instead of speaking. 

Kevin and Haknyeon had better luck at the stores, several owners were willing to hand over the footage once they were offered enough money. It’s funny people have morals and are all for the law but at the prospect of a sum of money they suddenly don’t know what those are and will do anything you ask. 

With the various USBs plugged into the system they ran through the material all but one not showing any useful footage. The tape in question showed two men slipping out of a car that stopped right behind Sangyeon’s in the small street as soon as he stepped out of his car. 

They are unrecognizable and Kevin cursed under his breath when no amount of zooming in and combining bits of images gave them a proper face. “In broad daylight and yet we have no faces.” The frustration seeping into his voice was something the men were all too familiar with. It was a sign he didn’t know what to do but he never admitted to it. 

As they continued playing the tape, Jacob gasped, the light reflecting off of a shiny object they quickly realized to be a knife. The view was blocked by the other man, making it impossible to see where on his body the knife lands. 

Still visible was the struggle Sangyeon put up, the strangers fighting to gain control over the muscular man. They could only imagine the adrenaline, fuelled by fear, that must have taken over as his survival instincts kicked in. 

At last, he seemed to slump, pushed into the backseat of the car the second the men had a steady hold on his limbs. Not a minute later the car was gone and with it any hint of Sangyeon’s whereabouts. 

“What if he’s already dead?”

Hyunjae shook his head. “No, that’d be too easy. He’s alive, Cobie.” The determination with which he said it enough to at least temporarily put his mind to rest. They had no guarantee for how much longer things would be fine but Hyunjae was convinced that for the next two days they would keep Sangyeon alive. 

There was no point in killing him immediately after abducting him. Regardless of who did it, they would either try to make some sort of deal or threaten them with killing Sangyeon long enough for him to find out the location and have Kevin and Juyeon make a game plan. 

Their biggest problem was figuring out who they were dealing with so they could plan accordingly. After all, everyone had their own reputation and not all of them were as impressed by Kevin and his men as they were by the previous leader. 

“I will track the car as far as possible but in the meantime we need to narrow things down.” Hyunjae was already typing away and pulling up surveillance cameras as Kevin nodded slowly. 

Juyeon hummed, “We can rule out the smaller gangs for now, none of them would dare go against Kevin or Jacob.”

“And that’s beside the fact they wouldn’t know Sangyeon. Chan has no reason to do this either, he’s always had my back and respects Jacob too much to even think of something like this.” 

“So what are our options?” 

“Well, either someone in Sangyeon’s life is angry enough to abduct him, which I doubt, or Jacob must have angered someone over the past weeks.” 

Jacob scoffed, “How would I have done that, Kev? The only possibility is one of the men at that last job recognised me but they still wouldn’t know Sangyeon.” And he was right, they wouldn’t. 

Lost in his own head, Kevin didn’t respond. 

The heavy silence broken by Juyeon only grew heavier as he spoke, “There might be a last option.” 

“Which is?” Kevin prompted him to continue. 

“Chanhee.” 

Hyunjae regarded him with an incredulous look on his face. “The café owner?” 

Juyeon nodded solemnly. His eyes locked onto Kevin, who seemed to be waiting for him to elaborate on why he thought the café owner would be behind the abduction. 

“You were fighting with him the last we visited the café.”

“So? That doesn’t give him Sangyeon’s name.”

“You let it slip, Kev. You yelled at him and you said his name.”

Kevin looked at Jacob, panicking as he saw the older’s eyes go wide in realization. “I didn’t mean to, Jake, I swear to god I would never endanger him. I know how much he means to you, I couldn’t do that to safe my life.” He was on his knees in front of Jacob, hands clutched together. 

“I am so sorry, please.” _Begging._ Kevin was begging on his knees to be forgiven for fucking up. 

Jacob’s eyes filled with tears, hurting for two of the few men he’d actually cared about for years, one of them somewhere far away from him, the other on his knees before him. “Kevin..”

“Please.”

“Stop, Kevin,” The older had tears streaming down his face as he, too, was begging, for what he didn’t know. Was it the wish for Kevin to not have fucked up or was it the wish for Sangyeon to come home safe? 

“Hyung.”

“Stop!”

Their eyes locked on one another it was almost like they were in their own world. “I can’t do this.” Jacob stepped back and it was enough for Hyunjae to shut his laptop and get up, recognising the utterly broken state of his friend. 

Kevin was sobbing on the floor, Juyeon by his side with a hand soothing down his back in a calming manner. “It’s okay, Kev. We can’t be sure if this is actually what happened, Chanhee might not even know Sangyeon for all we know. Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“While you look into Chanhee, I will take Jacob home, he needs to rest.” Hyunjae said, dragging the other onto his feet and forcing him towards the door. The slight initial resistance disappeared quickly, he must have realized there was no point in not listening to his friend because he let himself be led down to the garage so they could go home. 

They drove home in relative silence, Jacob not ever bothering to take off his clothes once he got to his bed. He looked up at Hyunjae with tired eyes, he could see the pain swirling in the otherwise shining orbs and he felt his heart drop. 

If they couldn’t safe Sangyeon, would he survive it? Hyunjae pushed the thought away, instead tucking the other in and switching off the lights. “Get some rest, I’ll let know when we have news, okay?”

Jacob nodded slowly, exhaustion catching up to him as the warmth of his bed swallowed him, causing him to fall asleep within minutes. 

Exiting the room with a tired smile, Hyunjae went downstairs to their living room. Thousands of thoughts were bouncing around his restless mind, one even more depressing than the other, the countless scenarios giving him chills. He had to be strong, _for Jacob_ , he needed to block his own emotions. 

The only thing that mattered was getting Sangyeon home. 

The load shrieking sound of a door opening had Sangyeon opening his eyes immediately. What he didn’t expect was for the room to be brightly lit, it was clearly artificial but at least he could actually see something now. 

“Hello, darling.”

The voice was sickeningly sweet. He recognized it as that of the taller man, looking up he confirmed his suspicions, a shockingly handsome and innocent-looking face adorned by a smile in front of him.

“What do you want?”

“That’s not very nice of you, I am just here to check up on you, see if you need anything.”

“I don’t need anything that’s yours,” Sangyeon spit, eyes dark though the rest of his body and face betrayed him, obviously in need of nutrition. 

“I’m starting to think the same but I have an offer that I think you’ll like.”

“I doubt it.”

The man grabbed his jaw just like last time, forcing him to make eye contact. “Shut up and listen.” His free hand treaded through his hair, gripping it tightly at the roots so he couldn’t turn his head away. 

“Changmin is set on letting you starve to death but I have other plans so I am offering you one meal a day.” 

Sangyeon could feel his mouth water at the thought of finally eating and drinking something, Lord knows how long he’s been in here already. He hated his body for giving him away that easily but he needed something in his body if he wanted to survive whatever this is. 

“What d’you think?”

“Surely, you wouldn’t give me food for free, there must be something you want in return.”

“Very well. You’re not as stupid as I thought.” The man let go of his head, walking around him in a small circle at an excruciatingly slow pace until he was back to standing before him. “You see, we don’t usually abduct people, only when there’s something big to gain for us.”

“You want me to believe that?”

Tutting, the man laughed, “Come on, big boy, if you keep behaving like this you’ll end up convincing Changmin is right for wanting to starve you. A starving man tends to not talk back, nor does he think he is smarter than us, both of which seem to be a problem here with you.” 

“Just tell me what you want from me.”

“You’re no fun,” But he continued speaking, “I want you to tell me everything you know about Jacob and friends. Who are they? Where do they live? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Better yet, does any of them have an important person in their life like you are to Jacob? I want to know it all.”

Shaking his head, Sangyeon mumbled, “I don’t know those things.”

“I think you do though.”

“Jacob never told me about work.”

“Ah darling, I think you know more than you want to show me. You should know that there’s no need to protect them, it’d be better for you to save yourself while you have the chance.” 

“I’m not ratting my friends out.” 

“Silly boy, do you really think they’re your friends? Did you consider how much of a burden you must have been to them? A goody two shoes like you dating Jacob, I’ve got to give it to you, it’s quite the plot twist.”

“They are my friends and they’ll get me out.” Ignoring the comment about Jacob for his own sake.

“If you trust them that much you don’t understand what their work revolves around.”

“They have never endangered me.”

“And yet you’re here.” 

“Because you brought me here.”

“Touché.” The man let out a humourless laugh, sending a chill down Sangyeon’s spine. As much as he knew the others wouldn’t just leave him hanging, he couldn’t deny that the words were getting to him. 

“You never told me your name.”

“And you want to know that because?”

Sangyeon pursed his lips, “Doesn’t a host normally introduce himself when he has guests over? I can’t say I had a warm welcome if I even had one at all.”

“You sure have a lot to say, darling.” 

“I will answer your questions if you answer mine every now and then. I think it’s only fair I get to to ask you something every time I get a meal.”

“Now we’re talking.” 

Rolling his eyes, he repressed a sigh before responding, “A meal and a question a day in return for information about Jacob. I want to add something else to that.”

“And what might that be?” 

“Get rid of the chains and give me a bed.” 

The other raised a perfect eyebrow at him in disbelief as he spoke, “Demanding.” 

“You want that information or not?” 

“Do you really think I am going to give in to all your wishes like that? Darling, this is not a retreat, you are held captive. You will answer my questions and get to ask one in return when we deliver your meal. End of conversation.” 

Sangyeon sighed deeply, pulling a chuckle from the man still standing in front of him. “We can’t have you getting too comfortable here, you need to feel some desire to go back to Jacob after all.” 

“Deal.” 

With a mocking bow, he left the room, Sangyeon finally giving his body a moment to rest. The conversation had taken every last bit of energy left in him, which hadn’t been a lot to begin with. Admittedly, the promise of finally getting to eat a meal, even if it meant sharing the little pieces of confidential information he had, was a welcome development. 

He remained alone for what he suspected to be a couple of hours. By now any feeling from his hands and arms was gone, the metal of the cuffs still cut into his skin but the ache had become dull. 

When he looked up he could see there was some blood staining his wrists even though he’d barely noticed the skin breaking. It must have happened while he was talking to – he still didn’t know the man’s name and it annoyed him to no end. 

The second the door opened again the smell of food filled the room, his stomach grumbling loudly at the prospect of having something to eat. A plate and mug with some liquid were brought in by a different face. 

Thrown off by the new person’s presence, Sangyeon just stared at him. The man – or was it a boy? – looked awfully young to be involved in violence and all that but then again, Sunwoo was young too. Smiling uncertainly, he tried to speak, stopped by the other speaking first. 

“I will be bringing you your meals from now on.” 

“And you are?” He asked it before he even registered the thought. 

“You sure that’s your question for the day?” 

Sangyeon furiously shook his head, “No, no.” It earned him a soft laugh, and he noticed the kid – it was definitely just a kid – looked a lot better with a smile on his face. 

“So what is today’s question, hyung?”

The honorific had him let out a laugh of his own, the first genuine laugh since he got here. His thoughts were all over the place, trying to come up with good questions but there was so much he wanted to know. He settled for the simple question that had been plaguing him, “Who are you working for?”

“Changmin-hyung and Younghoon-hyung.”

“Can you tell me more about them?”

“That’s technically another question so I’ll stick to saying they’re partners in more than one meaning of the word. Also I hope you don’t mind the fact I have to feed you?” The boy smiled as he held up the plate. 

It was a bit of an unusual situation but the fact he got to eat was of enough importance to put that aside and let it happen. Bite by bite he ate the rice and the pieces of chicken next to it. 

“I’m Eric.”

“Nice to meet you, Eric.” An exchange of smiles followed by more silence as he eats almost made Sangyeon forget he has been locked in a building on an unknown location. 

Once he finished eating, Eric walked to the door, plate and mug in hand. He seemed to hesitate before speaking, “Hyung might come by later, he’s not the nicest with hostages.” 

The warning was clear. His last encounter of the day wouldn’t be friendly. 

He was alone again. If he didn’t know better he would find it funny. It was like they were playing a game with him, talking to him, making a deal, bringing him food, then getting their part of the deal, and repeating the whole cycle. 

He felt thankful for the warning Eric had given him, at least he could mentally prepare himself for the worst possible scenario. _What was the worst possible scenario?_ He supposed he should be prepared for blood to flow and it’s both weirdly unsettling and something he made peace with. 

And indeed, when the man he now knows is Changmin stepped into the room there was a knife in his hand. “Did you have a nice meal?”

“Yes.”

“Younghoon said you talked a lot but now you’re silent.”

“I will only answer your questions,” Sangyeon said firmly. 

Changmin shrugged, eyes on the blade of his knife with a smirk playing on his lips. “If that’s what you want.” He stepped closer and held the blade before his face mockingly as is to say _you better be honest if you don’t want stitches_.

“First question, how many people does Kevin’s staff consist of?” 

“I only know Juyeon, Hyunjae, Sunwoo and Haknyeon.” It came out so easily, easier than he wanted to. 

“Those are names not a number but I’ll take it. Number two, where are the headquarters?” 

Sangyeon swallowed hard, he didn’t know. Jacob had never taken him there, nor had he told him where it was located in case it was ever necessary. “I don’t know.”

“You sure?” The knife is cold against the skin of forearm. 

“Sure.”

A stinging pain and a rush of warmth down his arm notified him of the knife slicing through the thin skin, blood trickling down towards his shoulders in a thin stream. It was the only pain he felt, the rest of his arms still numb. 

“Last chance.” 

The cold air hit his stomach and belatedly he realized his shirt had been lifted to expose the lower half of his torso. “You’re a strong one.” The previous mocking atmosphere was gone, replaced with something serious that made him feel on edge. 

“I don’t know anything about headquarters.”

“I know. Your eyes tell me more than your body language does.” 

Sangyeon hated it, knew it was the truth. He had never been good at hiding his emotions, eyes always giving him away no matter how convincing he spoke or acted. Changmin worked on his nerves, looking right through to his soul, he felt exposed in more than just his body. 

“Last question, answer honestly and you’ll only have that tiny cut on your arm, lie and you’ll have a cut matching Jacob’s on your stomach.”

“How did you-”

“Silly, I know a lot about your boyfriend. In case you make it out alive, ask him where he really got that scar, I bet he told you a foolish lie about it before.”

Staying silent, Sangyeon pondered over it, surely he had just made that up, trying to rile him up so he’d tell the truth. 

“Can they track us?” 

“I don’t k-”

“Wrong answer.” The blade slid over his stomach, it was barely there but enough to very lightly break the skin. “Try again.”

“I have never asked.”

The same motion, the same place, a deeper cut. “Try again.”

“They can.”

The blade was lifted off his skin and Changmin chuckled, “Correct. Now, do you think they have our location already?”

“No.”

“Correct.” The smile was evil. This man was scaring the shit out of him, not because he liked playing with knifes, not because he was threatening to keep cutting his skin, but because he seemed to know exactly how he would react. 

He felt like an open book, Changmin knew when he lied and when he spoke the truth, knew exactly when he was speaking from uncertainty, where his knowledge ended. Which meant that somehow he already knew these things, somehow he already had a lot more intel on his lover and their friends than he let on. 

But Sangyeon wasn’t stupid either. 

“See you tomorrow. Eric will tend to your wounds with your next meal so I hope they don’t get infected before then.” And the door was closed. 

It stayed closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated as always! let me know what you think <3


	8. Turned Tables

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slowly getting closer to the end
> 
> @jumilsbish on twt for updates on all fics!

“What have you got?” 

Hyunjae pulled up screenshots from security cameras. “I looked into the footage from the day you and Chanhee were on that da-”

“It was not a date,” Kevin cut him off, “we just went to see a movie as friends.”

“This camera was outside of the diner you went to after the movie. Several minutes after you walked out he left with someone else.” 

The younger nodded slowly. “Got a name yet?” 

“Ji Changmin.” Hyunjae saw the other tense at the sound of the familiar name, familiar and despised. 

“Are you sure it’s him?” 

“I also went through the cameras outside of Chanhee’s café, that’s him too. His face is clearly recognizable. I hate to say it but there’s no doubt that it’s Changmin.”

Kevin groaned, palms of his hands digging into his eyes. “Alright, so we’re dealing with Younghoon and Changmin. How can we be sure they have Sangyeon?” 

“We can’t. However, it’s our only realistic scenario.” 

Juyeon chose that moment to enter the meeting room, “Hyung’s right. Chanhee is the only one who’s angry at one of us, judging from the way he responded when you fought, he doesn’t feel guilty in the slightest.”

“No need to remind me of that.” 

“If he knows Changmin and Younghoon, I think he would be capable of asking them to do something like this.” Hyunjae hummed in agreement. 

Kevin looked like he was lost in his thoughts. “So? What’s the game plan?” 

“Get Chanhee. Interrogate him. We can break him.” 

“You have about an hour until the café closes. I want him here tonight, we don’t have time to wait.”

Hyunjae eyed Kevin, biting back the words threatening to spill. “On it.” Together with Juyeon he walked out of the room, leaving Kevin to his own devices. 

“He’s out of it,” Juyeon noted as they descended the stairs down to the garage, “This whole thing is really messing with him.” 

“Tell me about it,” The older scoffed. Getting into his car, he waited for Juyeon to settle in too. Soon they were on their way to the café. It was cloudy outside, giving away that it would start raining mere hours from then. 

The grim atmosphere both in and outside of the car seemed to match a little too well for Hyunjae’s liking. Juyeon sensed it, hand reaching out for the other to hold. “We get Chanhee, we get Sangyeon.” The slight tremble in his voice a sign of his own doubts. 

“I know we will.”

Pulling up to the café, Hyunjae kissed the younger’s hand softly. “Let’s get this over with.” 

Juyeon smiled before pulling his hand loose and getting out. 

The café was almost empty, a few last clients sitting around as it was only 30 minutes until closing time. Chanhee greeted them cheerily, it pissed the two off to no end with the knowledge that he was probably the reason behind Sangyeon’s disappearance. 

“Juyeon! How are you?” 

“I’m alright.” His voice was flat, none of the usual excitement present. 

“Who’s this handsome man?” Chanhee chimed, eyes on Hyunjae. 

“His boyfriend.”

A short silence fell, not exactly tense but also not relaxed at all. 

“Chanhee, Hyunjae. Hyunjae, Chanhee.” Juyeon followed all of Chanhee’s movements, he was moving more carefully than he usually did. 

“Kevin couldn’t make it?”

Hyunjae leaned onto the bar, eyes locked on the man in front of him. “None of your business.” It was his professional voice, void of emotion, blank just like his face. 

Hyung,” Juyeon warned him, they needed his guard to be down if they wanted to take him without force and with this behaviour that was not going to happen. 

“I just wanted to apologize. Last time we fought but I realize I was wrong back then. I shouldn’t have tried to make a move on him when he told me he wasn’t interested.” 

The apology almost sounded genuine, almost. Juyeon knew what Chanhee looked like when he was genuinely sorry about something, it wasn’t this. Yet, they could try to use it to their advantage and Juyeon was going to do exactly that. “Why don’t you come back with us? Kevin is supposed to come over in a bit.”

A glint of mischief was covered with a smile. “If it’s not too much of a bother.”

Hyunjae hummed, “I could use a drink in the meantime.”

Subtle. His boyfriend chuckled lightly as he took a seat at the bar, hand landing on Hyunjae’s thigh with a light grip. “No alcohol for him.” 

Chanhee smiled, it was forced and it made Juyeon feel like they needed to tread lightly if they didn’t want it to blow up in their faces. The older stayed silent, checking his phone to see if Jacob had contacted him about anything. 

The drinks were placed in front of them, the owner settling on a stool behind the bar. Juyeon talked to Chanhee, superficial conversation filling the time until closing minute by minute. They were alone now, all other clients having left already. 

“Shall we go?” Hyunjae turned to his boyfriend, a familiar look enough for him to get the hint. Getting up, the two waited outside for Chanhee to lock up the shop. It didn’t take long and soon they were on their way to HQ again, the pink-haired man tapping around on his phone in the back of the car. 

Juyeon saw it made the older a little anxious, after all, they didn’t know if he believed their lie of taking him back to Juyeon’s place. For the second time that day, he grabbed hold of his hand, squeezing reassuringly as they sped down the highway. 

Chanhee was silent for most of the ride and soon they found themselves back in the garage of the headquarters. Finally, something seemed to click on Chanhee’s mind but it was already too late, he couldn’t escape now. 

“Kevin is waiting for you.”

Hyunjae went ahead, expecting Juyeon to make sure that their guest was with them. Even now, Chanhee walked with his head held high, proving how carefully he had constructed his image as to keep it up even when he had been caught. 

On the first floor, Juyeon led him into a small room. The only light coming from a TL light in the middle of the room, casting a sharp white glow on the black, metal table. Kevin looked up when the door opened, standing at the sight of Chanhee still looking so sure of himself.

“Kevin.” 

“Chanhee.” Any sign of friendliness gone from his face, dark eyes glaring at the composed man in front of him. “Take a seat.” 

He did as asked, sitting down with his hands clasped together on the table. Kevin sunk back into his own seat, fingers drumming on the file under his hands impatiently. “Do you know why you’re here?” 

“I came to apologize to you.”

“Cut the bullshit.”

Chanhee rolled his eyes before looking back at him. “Then why don’t you enlighten me?” 

“Someone has gone missing.” There it was, a flash of panic on his face. 

“And what do I have to do with that?” 

Kevin chuckled, “Oh? I think you do. Executive director Lee Sangyeon, boyfriend of Jacob Bae. The Jacob that happens to be in your way of getting with me.” Again, recognition passed over his face when he pulled out a photo of Sangyeon, he could try to hide it but Chanhee wasn’t quick enough to cover his initial reactions.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

Maybe if Kevin hadn’t dealt with so many liars he would have believed it. He had to give it to the other, after his initial reaction he put on a good poker face. Nevertheless, the initial reaction was enough to give him away and he would admit to knowing what was going on. 

“Kim Younghoon and Ji Changmin must have been of great help, right? I remember them, I suppose they have told you about me as well?”

“I don’t know them.”

“Chanhee,” Kevin paused, “You are not leaving this place until you tell me where Sangyeon is.” 

“You really believe that huh?” 

“I don’t just believe it, I know it. Because unlike you I do this on a day-to-day basis. You mingled in a circuit you don’t mingle in unless you have a death wish. So tell me, what did you talk about with Younghoon and Changmin?” 

The printed screenshot of the security camera seems to throw Chanhee off. “How did you-” 

“Sweetheart, everything your buddies can do, we can do too, it’s really not rocket science to get into a few security cameras.” Kevin laughed, the first crack in his resolve had made its appearance. 

“I told them about you.” 

“About me?”

“Yes.” 

“What else?” 

Silence. 

“You can either speak up while I’m asking nicely or I’ll call Juyeon and Sunwoo in, which is something anyone sane would avoid happening.” The threat wasn’t just to scare him. Kevin had made a promise to Jacob and if that meant hurting a pretty boy with a big ego, so be it. 

“They offered me help.”

“What kind of help?”

“To get back at you.” 

Kevin could feel his blood boiling at the nonchalant attitude. “Do you realize how fucking _stupid_ you sound right now? You want to get back at me for _rejecting_ you by _abducting_ someone who has _nothing_ to do with this!” 

More silence. 

“You put the life of an innocent civilian at risk because you can’t accept someone not wanting to be in a relationship with you. For fucks sake, you didn’t even do it yourself you hired a fucking gang to do it!”

Chanhee looked into his eyes, visibly shaken by Kevin, sweet and loving Kevin, blowing up on him like this. He was slowly cracking under the pressure and it had only been the most basic facts about the situation. It seemed as though now that he was confronted with his own decisions something was dawning in about the effects they had. 

“So what if I did? Isn’t it too late now?”

“Too late for telling them to let Sangyeon go? Never.”

“For all you know he could be dead.”

Kevin breathed out as he leaned his elbows on the table, “And that’s why you are going to tell us every single detail you know.” 

He was contemplating it, soft features creasing, eyes searching for something in Kevin’s eyes. The other knew he wouldn’t find it. “Wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose of this?” He chimed. Kevin wanted to choke him.

“I don’t think you understood when I said you had one chance.” He beckoned to the one-way window behind him, the signal for Juyeon and Sunwoo to get to work. 

“You didn’t say one-”

“I told you to speak. You refuse to say more so this is how we’ll do it.” 

Chanhee’s eyes moved from Kevin to the door and back anxiously, swallowing audibly. Kevin couldn’t stop himself from smirking, the good old intimidation with the unknown worked on everyone. 

The door opened, Juyeon entering followed by Sunwoo. The younger of the two was twirling his gun on his finger, the personalized grip reflecting a deep red shimmer in the harsh light. A recent gift from Kevin. “Can we finally have our fun?”

“No, please!”

Juyeon chuckled, “You’re too late buddy. You had your chance and you threw it away. Now it’s our turn.” Knives gleamed in his hand and on his hip, they were completely clean, new as these too had been gifted by Kevin recently. 

“This is not fair!”

Desperation. 

“Oh but it is. In fact, we’re being nice, we just want to talk.”

“Since when are knives and guns part of talking to someone?” His voice was barely above a whisper. 

“You should have thought of that before not answering Kevin’s questions,” Juyeon stated. Fingers wrapped around the royal blue grip, pulling the other knife free swiftly. “Which one do you prefer?”

“Neither.”

Sunwoo laughed, “Stupid answer to a stupid question. He was never going to let you choose.” 

Fear flashed over Chanhee’s face as Juyeon stepped closer, leaning in until he was balancing on the edge of his seat. The knife dancing in front of his eyes scared him enough to fall off of his chair sideways. 

Suddenly, Kevin spoke from the corner of the room, “Get to it.” 

“So you were offered help to get back at Kevin. Why not ask them to kill him?”

“Because I care about him.” His throat was tight, scurrying to sit up on the cold floor. 

“You want us to believe that?” Sunwoo scoffed, “I think you need to learn what happens to liars.” Walking around the table he stood behind Chanhee, effectively caging him in between the two of them. He crouched down, gun pressed into the man’s lower back as a warning. 

Chanhee inhaled sharply, body going rigid, and eyes locked on Juyeon. Said man tilted the knife in his hand, seemingly lost in thought until he glanced up at Chanhee, dark orbs staring into his soul. “Your face would be even prettier with a little red.” 

A shudder ran through the fragile body. “Not my face.”

“You’d prefer someplace else? Just say the word.” Juyeon mused, free hand coming up to trace a finger down his neck, over his collarbones, chest, and stomach, stopping on his thighs. Glancing up, Chanhee looked at him with wide eyes as he held his breath. 

“Hyung likes leaving marks where they’re visible.”

The gasp falling from his lips when the knife slid through the fabric of his pants, lightly grazing the skin underneath. Juyeon hooked his fingers into the torn pants and pulled abruptly, fabric easily giving way and leaving his thigh exposed.

“Juyeon, please don’t,” Chanhee begged. 

“Shh, we have to make up for you lying to Kevin earlier, okay?” 

Cold metal touched skin, a swift, shallow cut coming into view as the knife was pulled off the skin. Blood welled up quickly, little droplets dripped down the side of his leg onto the floor. Hissing, Chanhee tried to move back but was held in place by Sunwoo. 

“If you don’t want to bleed out you need to be still,” He whispered into his ear. The press of the gun in his back reminding Chanhee that he really had nowhere to go. Instead, he attempted to settle into a more comfortable position, though being on the floor meant there we no such thing.

Another cut, mere centimeters from the first one, the blade slicing through his skin followed by more blood welling up. The third one was deeper, blood forming pearls as it ran down his skin at a rapid pace. 

“Please, stop.”

Juyeon chuckled, “Tell us what you know and I might consider it.” 

“Whose plan was it to go after Sangyeon?” Sunwoo asked, free hand gripping the back of Chanhee’s neck tightly. 

“Changmin.” 

“Why would he pick him?” The knife already applying pressure on a piece of uncut skin on his inner thigh. It was enough to have Chanhee continue talking. 

“Because I wanted revenge.”

“What does Sangyeon have to do with that?” Juyeon questioned, eyes observing any changes in his facial expressions, anything to distinguish truth and lie. 

Chanhee sighed but the grip on his neck growing tighter had him answer. “I had to hurt Jacob.”

“To hurt Kev?”

“Yeah.” He tried to nod, instead, Sunwoo pulled his head until he could see his face.

“Then why not take Jacob?” 

It was an obvious question. The entire thing seemed so far-fetched and in their eyes there was not one solid reason for choosing Sangyeon over Jacob. Sure, seeing Jacob hurt would hurt Kevin but the pain would’ve been worse if he’d be at risk of losing him. 

“I wanted to but then Kevin let Sangyeon’s name slip and Changmin said this was better.” Chanhee was quick to spit it out once the knife pierced through his skin again, the answer having taken too long. 

Juyeon raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the blood pooling on the floor. “And you agreed to that without thinking?” 

“Yeah.” Shame. He sounded ashamed of himself. 

“How did you find him?” Sunwoo’s voice was low, laced with irritation. How the fact that these things were only now getting through Chanhee’s head was beyond him. 

“I didn’t.”

“Liar, you knew something.” Another smooth cut appearing on the previously unmarked skin. 

Chanhee furiously shook his head. “Changmin did everything! He made a profile once I had the name.”

Juyeon lifted the knife off his skin, watching drop after drop falling from the blade. Inspiration seemed to hit him as he held the knife above Chanhee’s face, red tainting his skin in thin streaks. “Doesn’t he look pretty like this?”

Sunwoo ignored him, turning back to the man sitting on the floor, “Why didn’t you stop him?” 

“I don’t know.”

“Like hell you don’t know.” The gun pressing harder, sure to leave a bruise, Sunwoo breathed into his ear, “Don’t make me pull the trigger.” 

“I really don’t.” 

“You don’t know what’s going on in your own head?” Juyeon laughed. 

“I do.” Chanhee sounded unsure even though he tried his hardest to sound confident. 

Sunwoo chuckled, mocking him, “So tell me. Why did you not stop Changmin? Have you not doubted this for a single moment?”

“No..”

“Do you see how much of stretch this all was? You want to hurt Kevin over something petty and instead you hurt Jacob by bringing an innocent civilian into this? You really must not think much.” Juyeon’s voice was harsh, anger seeping through. 

“Sorry.”

“You should have thought of that before.” The knife coming into contact with the thin skin of his throat had Chanhee tensing up again. It was exactly what Juyeon wanted to see, tracing it up until it was on his cheek. “Where is Sangyeon?”

“Juyeon-”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t-”

His answer was replaced by the scream tearing from his throat as the blade slid from his cheekbone down to his chin. His movement caused the knife to completely pierce through his skin, leaving a gaping cut in the middle of his cheek. “We’re done here.” 

Sunwoo got up, Chanhee consequently falling back down. 

Kevin moved from the corner, taking the youngest out of the room with him as Juyeon stood over Chanhee with the knife still dripping blood all over his face. “You should’ve stayed put, karma is a bitch.” It was the last thing he said before stepping away and leaving the room. 

“You have him there and you didn’t tell me?” Jacob was furious. “The least you could have done was text me to let me know that you took him in, Hyunjae!”

“Jacob, I didn’t have time for that earlier, I had to monitor everything and only just found time to call you.” Hyunjae could feel the anger radiating off his friend through the phone. 

“I suppose that means you have news?”

“I do, though you might want to come here first. We have work to do and I know you want to be part of this.” 

He could hear a hum on the other side of the line, “Give me 20 minutes.”

“We’ll be waiting for you in the conference room.” Ending the call, Hyunjae turned to Juyeon who was cleaning his knife of the last blood. “Let’s go to Kev.”

Truth be told, it had already been some time since Chanhee’s interrogation ended. The time since was spent trying to calm Kevin down. His anger had been through the roof, Juyeon doing anything in his power to prevent him from going back into the room and killing Chanhee. 

“How’s Jacob?” Kevin was looking at him expectantly, hopeful. 

“Mad I didn’t inform him beforehand but on his way.” 

“I guess that was to be expected... We still don’t have an exact location yet though.” All eyes were on Hyunjae. There had to be some way he could at least bring them a step closer to the area in which Sangyeon was being held. 

Hyunjae nodded slowly, “I plugged his phone into the system but it seems Changmin put up extra defences so tracking his phone to a general location will take some time.” 

“Do what needs to be done.” Kevin rubbed his eyes. “Until we have a location we need to get other things organized. Sunwoo, I want you to check for any past information we have on warehouses and other facilities Younghoon owns.”

Sunwoo saluted him with a smile, “On it.” 

“Haknyeon, check who we need aside from us five, I want at least 10 men with us. If you think it’s necessary, check with Chan who he can miss to help us out.”

“Copy that.” Haknyeon looked at Hyunjae briefly before slipping out of the room. 

“Us five?” Juyeon spoke once the door fell closed, “What about Jacob?”

Kevin whipped his head around to look at his companion. “I am not taking Jacob on this mission, it’s not safe.” 

“But you are taking Hyunjae?”

“He’s a professional.”

“So is Jacob.” Hyunjae’s voice was laced with both frustration and worry. 

“I know that, but he got injured on that one mission I sent him on and I am not doing that again. The second he sees Sangyeon his guard will be down, we can’t risk it.” It was definite, no use in arguing with Kevin once he made up his mind about what was safe in his opinion. 

Juyeon rolled his eyes. “Good luck telling him that.” They all knew that just like Kevin, Jacob had a habit of being stubborn. Convincing him that not coming with them was the better option was not going to be an easy task. 

“I’ll do it as soon as he gets here, you just focus on your own task.” His tone was teasing, the mood a little lighter. 

“Which is?”

“Developing a basic scenario that we can work out later. Once Sunwoo has the locations we know, we check if any of them match the area Hyunjae finds, then we continue planning.” 

Humming, Juyeon got up, “Shouldn’t take too long.”

“It better not.” Hyunjae winked at him with a smile, “Time isn’t exactly something we have a lot of right now.”

“Yes, hyung.”

Juyeon kissed the top of his head in passing, hand lingering on the back of his neck for a second too long. 

As the door closed once more Kevin dropped forward onto the table. “Does he even want to talk to me?” All the professionalism previously radiating off him now gone. 

“He doesn’t have a choice, Kev. Besides, he knows you didn’t do this on purpose.” 

“I’m going to have to trust you in that. Think you know him better after all these years than I have ever done,” Kevin chuckled, a thankful smile on his face. 

Hyunjae shook his head, deep in thought as the screen in front of him ran through all the defence mechanisms. “He hasn’t changed all that much, you and he have a lot of history.” 

“We do... I feel like I screwed it all up.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Kevin buried his face in his arms. “Nothing, forget I said that.”

“You know you can tell me, right?” 

“It’s stupid.”

“Feelings aren’t stupid, Kevin.” Hyunjae looked up from his screen to see the younger’s eyes widening at his words. Had he unconsciously seen right through him? 

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That I love Jacob.” There it was, he said it out loud. He loved Jacob. 

Hyunjae blinked, “I didn’t know. I have thought about it in past but I didn’t know you really were in love with him.”

_“Oh.”_

“Does Jacob know?”

Kevin looked at him, it was almost comical, would’ve been if the conversation wasn’t so serious. “No?! Why would I have told him when he already had Sangyeon?”

Scoffing, Hyunjae ignored the door opening, “There was a time before that.”

“Before what?”

“Jacob.” Kevin tensed, “you’re here.”

“A time before what?” He pressed as he took a seat next to Hyunjae.

“Before you and Sangyeon were together.”

Jacob was confused, eyebrows creasing as he looked between his best friend and Kevin. “What does that have to do with the abduction?”

“Nothing, we were talking about something else.” Hyunjae could feel Kevin’s eyes burning holes in his skin. He kept his eyes on the laptop, watching it run through the last hurdles, a step closer to decoding the needed information.

“I like you, Jacob.”

“What?” His eyes widened, mouth falling open at the revelation. 

“I have for a while but I was scared to tell you.”

“Scared of what?”

“You not wanting me in your life anymore. When I finally had the guts to say it you already had Sangyeon and I didn’t want to ruin that.” 

Jacob turned to Hyunjae, “You knew?”

“I just found out!” He exclaimed, hands up in surrender at the aggressive tone in his friend’s voice. 

“When were you going to tell me, Kev?”

“Never, Jacob, never.” There is something like regret but also relief. Kevin locked eyes with the man he’s loved for years now. “You deserve to be happy and I know that you are with Sangyeon, that’s all I can ask for.”

A silence fell over them, Jacob continued looking at Kevin in disbelief, the latter avoiding any further eye contact. Hyunjae couldn’t stand the awkward tension and cleared his throat loudly, “Now that you’re here, Jacob, we have some things to tell you.”

“Such as?” 

Kevin glanced at Hyunjae, a small nod as thank you thrown his way. “Chanhee hired Changmin and Younghoon for this. They are the ones who abducted Sangyeon.”

“Changmin and Younghoon? How does he even know them?” 

“Changmin visited the café regularly like me and Juyeon. Seems like he somehow got a whiff of the situation between me and Chanhee and acted on it,” Kevin explained. 

“Anything else?”

Hyunjae nodded. “I’m trying to trace Changmin’s contact back to their location. I think Chanhee’s going to have to make a call. The signal keeps rerouting so I can’t narrow things down for enough.” 

“You want to do the honors?”

“Me?” Jacob asked, “Are you sure?”

Kevin smiled, hand reaching out to Jacob, “If you want to. I’d understand wanting to see the one who put Sangyeon at risk.”

“I just want to see him. You can have him make the call.” 

“Alright. Then we should get this over with.” Together the two walked out, Hyunjae following after them with his laptop in hand. 

The call was made quickly, Chanhee informing Changmin that Juyeon had visited as usual and they had nothing to worry about. It lasted just long enough for Hyunjae to ping three nearby cell towers to create an approximate area. 

Back in the conference room, Kevin took charge of their further planning. “Get Sunwoo and Haknyeon back here, I want to know what they think.” 

Except it wasn’t needed because at that moment Sunwoo opened the door with a smile. “Here’s your list! Have a location yet?” Eyes on Hyunjae, his smile grew even wider at the small nod. 

“Anything within this radius?” He turned the screen so Sunwoo could take a look at the area. 

A finger moving down the file row by row, the youngest ticked them off until one finally matched the criteria. “It must be this one. Matches the area, property of Kim Younghoon and an old warehouse that’s been empty for years now.” 

“Hyunjae, check the warehouse for entrances, windows, how it’s located in terms of things we can use as cover. I want it all.” Kevin was already onto the next step as the former got to work. “Haknyeon, you got the team?” 

“Yes,” Haknyeon cleared his throat, “I got three snipers and three of Juyeon’s best men as well as two of Sunwoo’s. Then I called Chan, he himself is coming and he’s taking Hyunjin with him.”

“Good work, you’ll be briefing them as soon as this meeting is over, I want them prepared to go tomorrow morning. If there are any questions, direct them to their superior, everybody will be in charge of making sure their own people are where they need to be when they need to be.” 

“Clear.” 

Juyeon got up. “So we have the warehouse, details are coming up, we have the team. Now what?” 

Kevin sighed, “We wait.” 

“I am not waiting.” Jacob made eye contact with his husband, “There has to be something you can do right now.”

“There isn’t, Jacob. We have the details, we have our entrance. Speculating where in the building Sangyeon is will get us nowhere, we’re just going to have to go through the whole thing until we find him.”

“That’s not like you, Kevin.”

“I am doing what I can.”

“It is not enough.” The tension between the two from earlier was rapidly building back up, everyone else careful in mingling in the conversation. 

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Kevin asked.

“Go now.”

“The fastest we can move is tomorrow morning. No can do.” It was final, the discussion ended before it even really started. Jacob sunk back into his chair, glaring at the table. 

“With what team am I?”

“Neither.”

“Kevin! You can’t make me stay back.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing, Jacob. You will be here at HQ waiting for our return and that is that.”

Jacob buried his face in his hands, “I can’t believe you.” His mood had obviously gone sour but decisions were made and there was no coming back from those. It was too dangerous and they could not risk anything happening to Jacob because he let his guard down in the search for his lover. 

Hyunjae piped up, “Got the blueprint. There are two entrances, one at the back, one at the front.” He projected the image into the big screen, pointing out the things he was mentioning to them. “Front, there are some bigger windows on the first and second floor, the ground level doesn’t have any. Back, same for the second floor. The first floor, however, only small ones.”

“Rooms?”

“Ground level is completely open, one big area. The first floor has a couple of rooms on the backside, the front is one big room as well. The second floor is of no interest for finding Sangyeon. They wouldn’t put him in a room with big windows.”

Kevin nodded slowly. “So we go in through the back?”

“My suggestion is sending the rescue team in through the back and have the snipers cover the front. In case anyone leaves the building, kill them.”

“Sounds like our best chance, that’s 12 men inside the building. Seeing we have to idea how many of their people will be inside we need everyone we have inside,” Juyeon reasoned. 

“You’re right.” Kevin smiled, “So we have the plan. Juyeon, I’m going to ask you to have the equipment ready to hand out at dawn.”

“Copy that.” 

“Last thing is surroundings. There are plenty of building around our target, ditch the cars outside of the neighbourhood, walk the last eight minutes in smaller groups so we’re less visible, gather at the building behind our target until snipers are in position then get moving.”

“I have nothing to add to that, Hyunjae.” Kevin looked around the room, making eye contact with the men that defined his life, _“Let’s bring him home.”_

Changmin put down the phone, eyes finding Younghoon’s across the room. The other was looking back at him with a raised eyebrow, signaling him to speak up. “That was Chanhee.”

“And?”

“Something was off in his voice.”

“What do you mean?” Younghoon looked confused. 

“I don’t know, it’s weird for him to call this late at night and his voice was higher than normal.” 

“Then why did he call?”

“To tell me Juyeon visited as always, that nothing changed in his attitude.” Changmin started pacing around the room. “He has no reason to call about something as dull as that instead of just texting like the past weeks.”

Younghoon sighed, “What are you trying to say, Changmin?”

“I think they know we have him.”

“And?” His patience was running thin, his husband never beat around the bush like this. 

“I want him gone, now,” Changmin said. It surprised the other, hadn’t they decided to let him live for at least a couple more days until they were for sure about how much information Kevin had?

“Babe, please think this through before you start killing people. It was never our goal to hurt Sangyeon, we already broke that. We wanted to get to Kevin but if you ask me, that’s not what we’re doing right now, you have to see that too.”

“This will hurt Kevin, just indirectly.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

Changmin ignored him, instead calling Eric in. The youngest came in with his eyes on the ground, only looking up when Younghoon placed a hand on his back. Focus shifting between the husbands, he stopped at Changmin, a glint in his eyes nailing him in place. 

“You have to do something for me, sweetie.”

“Sure, hyung.”

“Kill him off.”

Eric froze, the soothing hand on his shoulder the only thing grounding him. “Yes, hyung.”

**Author's Note:**

> That is it for chapter 1, I hope you enjoyed it!  
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated and definitely a motivation to write faster  
> Stay tuned for chapter 2, I will try to upload it next week 
> 
> Hit me up on twitter @jumilsbish to yell at me about my fics or the boyz in general  
> Stay safe <3
> 
> (In the meantime, feel free to check out my other fics (such shameless self-promo lol))


End file.
